ENVIRONMENT, Water and Climate minister Oppah Muchinguri has disclosed that her ministry has begun amending the Environmental Management Act to penalise corporates and local authorities found guilty of polluting the environment.
by Stephen Chadenga
Muchinguri told Southern Eye last week that it was disheartening that a significant pollution of water bodies came from illegal sewage discharge, as a result of non-functioning sewer treatment plants.
She also blasted urban and rural centres in the Midlands province, which were failing in solid waste management.
Muchinguri gave the example of Gweru City Council which she said has been issued with eight tickets since 2010, nine orders for the protection of the environment and five dockets opened against the local authority by the Environmental Management Agency.
Gweru has been convicted twice and has pending court cases for discharging raw sewage into Gweru River.
“City fathers be warned that my ministry is working on the amendment of the environmental management Act to include the piercing of the corporate veil where the corporate and local authority bosses will be held accountable for the environmental ills of their institutions both in their personal and institutional capacities,” she said.
Muchinguri said Kwekwe City Council used a single fully functional sewage treatment plant and ordered the local authority to immediately attend to the burst trunk line at Primrose Mine before a health disaster occurs in the Midlands mining town.
