Wave after Wave
JUNE 2021
3.0 A Wave of Trash
It is early evening, that time when the traffic jams that choke
Harare reach their peak.
Down the street, buses growl and navigate the packed
streets to pick up passengers, some of whom have been
waiting for hours.
The roads seem too small to accommodate the ramshackle
public buses, which move slowly on the shoulders of the
streets, sagging like old mattresses under the weight of
their fatigued passengers.
Just outside the city centre, privately owned commuter
omnibus operators, who have endured a year of being
banned from operating by government, fight for
passengers, their touts leaning out of half-open doors.
Choking on the black fumes pumped from hundreds of
over-revved, under-serviced engines, police officers
deployed on intersections struggle to keep the flow moving
smoothly.
On the other side of Harare, the North, and particularly
Borrowdale Road, which passes through the Head of State’s
official residence, all is quiet and smooth, just like the road
itself.
One government
official remarked
that Harare’s
congestion is a
result of the
availability of
fuel!
The chaos of Harare’s roads recently hit the headlines and
one government official remarked that the congestion is a
result of the availability of fuel!
Beyond the congestion, Harare, especially the southern and western parts, where the poor live, is
generally neglected.
The public service infrastructure has been left to deteriorate to unimaginably deplorable levels of decay.
So, this month, ZPP focuses on the level of neglect and deterioration of some parts of Harare in pictures.
This is because it is the duty of government to provide, upgrade and maintain the infrastructure and it is
the right of citizens to enjoy what they pay taxes and rates for. As of now there is little to talk about in
terms of the realization of this right.
This is because the priorities of government appear to be off the mark considering that a lot of money
was spent on the Mbuya Nehanda statue and more millions were spent on the purchase of chiefs’
vehicles.
Because images tell a thousand words, the story of the decay of cities, with a particular focus on
Harare, is better told in the soul-stirring images of heaps of uncollected refuse, bumpy roads,
derelict recreational facilities, and decaying public infrastructure
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