Waste pickers at Bulawayo’s Richmond Landfill, popularly known as Ngozi Mine, say they are not opposed to plans to transform the city’s troubled dumpsite; however, any prospective waste-management operator has to provide them with alternative accommodation and employment if the project results in their relocation.
Their concerns come amid plans for waste-management company Geo Pomona to potentially take over operations at Ngozi Mine, where waste pickers have lived for decades and survived largely through collecting and recycling waste.
The community says any intervention must recognise their long-standing presence at the landfill and protect their livelihoods, access to schools and other basic services.
The landfill was commissioned in 1994 and was designed to operate as a sanitary landfill, but years of uncontrolled dumping and fires have turned it into a persistent environmental and public-health concern.
On this topic • Bulawayo replaces stolen brass manhole covers with plastic • Bulawayo councillors return to court on October 6 over extortion charges • Residents account for 71% of Bulawayo council debt
Residents in Cowdray Park, Emakhandeni, Luveve and surrounding areas have repeatedly complained about smoke from the landfill, with concerns over prolonged exposure to potentially hazardous fumes.
The prospect of a new waste-management model has therefore been welcomed by some residents, but they fear they would be left without homes or livelihoods if the development requires them to move.
Febbie Sibanda, 47, who has lived in the area for decades, said her biggest request was a place to live close enough to schools and employment opportunities.
“We welcome Geo Pomona coming here but we need a place to live and jobs,” Sibanda said in an interview with CITE at Ngozi Mine last week.
Sibanda, who is now a grandmother, said she was born at Luveve Clinic and had raised four children while living at Ngozi Mine.
“I have grandchildren and I don’t know where to go if I were to leave this place,” she said.
Sibanda said some children in the community receive assistance from donors who pay their school fees, making relocation away from nearby schools particularly concerning.
“We need a close place to live so that it will be easier to go to and from work and one where children are nearer to their schools,” she said.
The residents also depend on waste picking and recycling for their livelihoods.
Limukani Sibanda, 44, said she had lived at Ngozi Mine since 1994, after her family moved there because her mother could not afford to pay rent elsewhere.
She said the family remained at the landfill after the death of her mother in 2002 and she subsequently raised four children and now has three grandchildren there.
“I have established myself here at Ngozi Mine. Our main plea is a place to stay,” she said.
Limukani said she had previously been allocated a housing stand number and had documents showing the allocation, but the promised housing had never materialised.
She said the lack of identity documents had initially prevented her from accessing housing, but after obtaining them, she completed forms and was given a stand number.
“If Geo Pomona comes here to Ngozi Mine, it must hire locals that are people from Ngozi and get jobs and have better lives,” she said.
She also warned that relocation without alternative accommodation could destroy the community’s livelihoods.
“If trucks were to come here and remove us from here, they would simply dump us in the bush,” she said.
Limukani said waste picking is not merely an informal activity but a livelihood passed down through generations.
She has been collecting pieces of clothes and rubber, which she uses to make mats that she sells in Cowdray Park.
“Picking rubber is what has enabled me to take care of my children and now grandchildren,” she said.
The residents also raised concerns about access to water.
Limukani said they currently collect water from a local pond, despite concerns about contamination from litter.
“We fetch water from the pond, which is not clean because litter falls inside but since we grew up drinking that water, we use it,” she said.
She said another water source, known as koMaweya, was abandoned after it became contaminated with sewage.
Angela Zulu, 35, said she was born at Ngozi Mine and had also raised her children there.
“This has been our home and we have nowhere to go if we are to leave here,” Zulu said.
She said the community included elderly people, people living with disabilities and orphans, making relocation particularly difficult.
“We need places to stay with our children,” she said.
Zulu claimed residents had previously met officials from Geo Pomona, who told them that the company had bought the site, leaving some residents worried about their future.
“If the city council is involved, we are also asking for a place for us to work so that we are hired,” she said.
Brenda Phiri, 27, said she moved to Ngozi Mine as a child in 2005, before Operation Murambatsvina, and had since had children there.
She said she had attempted to leave Zimbabwe for South Africa but eventually returned, while her mother had no alternative home.
“I heard Geo Pomona was coming here from council officials at their office who called us for a meeting two months back,” Phiri claimed.
She said officials had raised concerns about fires and smoke from the landfill, particularly because Tategulu School is located near the dumpsite.
“If Geo Pomona is taking over, we are asking ourselves where will we go? This has been home since I was little. There is no other home I know,” she said.
Phiri said residents also depended on waste picking for income and feared losing both their homes and livelihoods.
Youth representative at Ngozi Mine, Elitha Sibanda said younger residents wanted to remain economically active if the waste-management project proceeds.
“My mother gave birth to me from here and my grandmother was also here, although she has died. We have nowhere to go,” she said.
“We want a place to live or build us a house, even two-roomed cottages and not block us from picking waste to earn income for survival.”
Elitha also appealed for employment opportunities and assistance with water.
The residents’ concerns come as the proposed involvement of Geo Pomona has raised questions about the process through which the company was brought into discussions over Ngozi Mine.
Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe directed Bulawayo City Council to engage Geo Pomona to address waste management at the landfill while the council’s own procurement process was still underway.
The council had already received three compliant bids, raising questions about the relationship between the ministerial directive and the ongoing procurement process.
Bulawayo Mayor David Coltart recently said the council does not have the financial or technical capacity to independently develop a modern waste-management plant at Ngozi Mine and would therefore need to consider working with private investors.
Coltart said the council was collecting about 65 percent of rates and other bills, leaving it without sufficient resources for a waste-processing facility that could cost millions of dollars.
However, the mayor said the council had yet to establish what Geo Pomona could offer or what a potential agreement would cost Bulawayo.
Interviews with residents of Ngozi Mine and Cowdray Park showed the proposed investment therefore presents both hope and uncertainty.
They want the city’s waste problem addressed and recognise the environmental problems associated with the landfill.
However, the residents were clear that any transition to a new waste-management model must not leave behind the people who have built their lives around the site.
Their demands are straightforward, needing alternative accommodation, continued access to schools and basic services, water assistance and opportunities to work in or benefit from the new waste-management system.
“We are all concerned about one thing. We struggle with water… We get money from the waste we pick here. If we leave, what do we do with our children who have donors paying for their fees? We are fearful if they take over without helping us,” Phiri said.
Source: Ngozi Mine residents demand homes, jobs if Geo Pomona takes over landfill — CITEZW
COMMENTS