The ManicaPost
Moffat Mungazi
Post Correspondent
EVERY time clouds gather, residents of some of Mutare’s suburbs on wetlands and low lying areas develop butterflies in their tummies.
Year-in, year-out, some of the areas in Zimta Park, Dreamhouse, Bernwin, Gimboki and some parts of Chikanga Phase 3 are affected by flash floods.
In the affected areas, families had domestic property, personal possessions, food stocks and valuable assets destroyed by flash floods.
The flash floods were largely attributed to high rainfall and structures that were built on wetlands or waterways. Settling on the peripheries of streams, neglect or poor maintenance of storm drains and parcelling out of partially developed residential stands to desperate home seekers have also been cited as causative factors.
While much of the blame has been apportioned on local authorities, land barons and bogus private land developers, the inhabitants are always on the receiving end. They bear the full brunt of the haphazard mushrooming of settlements — legal or otherwise.
It remains a nightmare each time it rains.
Struggling to hold back his grief, a resident of Chikanga-Harlem, Mr Baldwin Chidzikwe, recounted the near-tragedy.
“This was a terrible experience which left the whole family totally traumatised. My wife and children are now living in constant consternation whenever there is a downpour. Apart from the household goods, stock for my stationery shop and the photocopying machines running into thousands of dollars were also destroyed. The whole yard became waterlogged and I could not even park my car inside.
“What irks me most is that I have formally engaged council through writing on several occasions, the correspondences of which I still have, but with no joy at all.
“This has inevitably forced me to do some structural adjustments and modifications to my property and I have incurred huge costs in the process,” he said.
After his fowl runs were washed away, Mr Manley Nemakonde of Zimta Park is still counting the losses.
Moaned Mr Nemakonde: “I was running a thriving poultry project at my place and was keeping broilers, but that investment all went down the drain when the chicken pens were flooded. The broilers were almost reaching maturity but now it is back to square one. This is a sad and painful loss.”
A Dream House resident, who only identified himself as Shutto said: “The rains were so heavy and flowed viciously that part of the precast wall surrounding my residence caved in and collapsed.”
His neighbour, who said he was still too devastated to speak, only quipped: “I had planned to complete work on the floor slab of the house I am building when the rains set in and ruined everything. Imagine the loss I suffered.”
Elijah Chibanda of Bernwin called the city council out.
“I think our city fathers have been sleeping on duty for some time. What have they been doing to address this situation? Do they want a disaster of monumental proportions to strike first before they can act swiftly and decisively? We have heard of dams bursting or their walls collapsing and we are living in fear of a potential calamity given that there is one (dam) in our vicinity.
“We are not experts in urban planning and development and therefore do not understand this technical jargon the city council is bombarding us with. They speak of some areas having no certificate of compliance, but whose duty is it to ensure that these are acquired by the private developers?
“Is it not the local authority that should be overseeing this process and have it done to standard? Are they not the ones who regulate and regularise these operations when they come for inspections?
“There are puddles of stagnant water everywhere and we are living in genuine fear of water-borne diseases. In the past, city council employees used to clear storm drains before the onset of the rain season in order to prevent such catastrophes. As compliant ratepayers who have their accounts paid up and we feel short-changed because this is poor service delivery,” he grumbled.
For Gimboki, it is even worse since servicing of the housing project, which requires basic social amenities such as water and reticulation system to be in place before occupation by dwellers, is still incomplete.
This has caused residents sleepless nights.
Mr Enock Shiridzinomwa, a carpenter in the area, was left distraught after the tidal wave.
“Those floods gave us a torrid time and caused untold suffering in this area. My apartment is not in a low-lying zone here in Gimboki, but the torrent was so powerful that it swept into the house. The cabin where I keep material for my carpentry job was thoroughly soaked, leaving some of the furniture I had already finished making badly deformed.
“I also lost a lot of timber and it will be difficult for me to quickly recover from this setback. Given that we have no electricity in this area and liquid petroleum gas is expensive, our misery was further compounded because the firewood we had gathered was also washed away,” said Mr Shiridzinomwa.
Some residents are contemplating legal recourse as they seek a redress of the matter.
Others have called for a holistic approach where stakeholders can constructively and meaningfully engage the city council as the major player to chart the way forward.
Flash floods in the city have become a thorny issue, giving Mutare’s local authority headaches.
In a statement, Mutare City Council said: “Zimta is an area in Chikanga 3 which was sold to ZIMTA (Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association) by the City of Mutare and the purchasers engaged a private developer who was involved in servicing the area from 2002.
“The development was done in two phases, with phase one done to completion and handed over to council. The second phase which is the area with storm water challenges was not done to completion (roads and drains were not completed).
“Although the ZIMTA 2 Scheme is occupied, it does not have a Certificate of Compliance. However, seeing no prospects of completing the project by the developer, council in 2020 passed a resolution to take over this project on a funding model to be agreed upon with beneficiaries in 2021.
“The floods then hit the area before an engagement meeting was convened and with the lockdown measures in place it became difficult to bring the affected residents to a round table.”
Added the statement:
“Dreamhouse is a housing scheme in Chikanga 3. A committee called Dreamhouse had the responsibility of servicing the scheme around 2008, but technically disbanded before sewers, roads and storm water drains were completed. This housing scheme has no Certificate of Compliance. Adding to the uncompleted services, the uncontrolled urban agriculture which is very prevalent in the areas stretching from Mountain Rise to Datvest area has been a challenge. The areas have been exposed to extensive deforestation, resulting in massive siltation, erosion and the undersized little drainage pipes were clogged.
“Because the two suburbs have no Certificates of Compliance as the private land developer is yet to complete servicing the outstanding works, the project has not been handed over to council. What it means is that the project remains in the custody of the private land developer and any repair works on the service infrastructure will be carried out as such, in this case KMP via ZIMTA.
“However, for the ZIMTA scheme, council passed a resolution to adopt the suburb and in line with that resolution the local authority has already started implementing emergency measures to address the problem in the area. Council is grappling with legacy issues of uncompleted serviced suburbs.”
