Tonderai Saharo
Masvingo–Masvingo Residents and Ratepayers Alliance (MURRA) has launched legal action against the City of Masvingo, seeking a High Court order to halt the use of a dumpsite located between Runyararo West and Victoria Ranch.
The residents argue that the site poses severe health risks, including respiratory illnesses and the threat of cholera, due to poor waste management practices.
In an application filed at the Masvingo High Court on 24 January 2025, MURRA is seeking an interdict under Section 14 of the High Court Act to prevent the council from continuing to dispose waste at the site.
The application highlights the dangers posed by smoke from burning rubbish and the proliferation of flies, which residents fear could lead to disease outbreaks.
“The First Applicant is seeking an interdict in terms of the provision of Section 14 of the High Court Act [Chapter 7:06] barring the first Respondent or its lawful agents or assignees from disposing waste at the dumpsite area located in Runyararo West, Masvingo,” the application states.
The MURRA first raised these concerns during a Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) stakeholder meeting in July 2023, accusing the council of violating residents’ environmental rights.
The ZHRC subsequently investigated and confirmed the health hazards, citing breaches of the Environmental Management Act.
The Environmental Management Agency (EMA) has been named as the second respondent in the case, though no direct orders are sought against it.
Residents are frustrated by the council’s repeated failure to deliver on promises to establish a new landfill at Cambria Farm, 12 km from the city centre.
“Council burns rubbish every night at the dumpsite which is less than 500 meters from our homes, and every day the entire neighborhood will be under a cloud of smoke. We tried to engage them and what they tell us is that we are relocating the dumpsite without providing actual dates when they will do so,” said Rockford Kamuzonda, a Runyararo West resident.
Portia Rwadza a resident of Victoria Range, said the local authority was taking the issue of the dumpsite lightly.
“We are now tired of discussing the issue of the dumpsite with council. When we raise our concerns, they sometimes lie that they have relocated but to our surprise, during the night trucks come here to dumb refuse,” she said.
Despite an official inauguration by Vice President Kembo Mohadi in June 2023, the site remains non-operational.
The project, which began in 2021, was intended to include a 12-hectare facility for both waste disposal and a cemetery at an estimated cost of US$1.5 million.
Masvingo town clerk, Edward Mukaratirwa, admitted that council had prematurely invited the vice president to launch the site when only the first phase was complete.
He also cited delays in receiving the city’s allocation from devolution funds as a key obstacle to completing the project.
“Works at the Cambria farm dumpsite are yet to be completed. Due to financial constraints, we had budgeted monies from the devolution funds to finance the project and what we are receiving is insignificant.
“When we invited the vice president (Mohadi), we wanted him to have an appreciation of how devolution funds we were receiving are transforming the city although we seemed to have done that in a hurry, before the project was completed,” he said.