Residents of Chitungwiza have taken the municipality to the High Court, seeking an order compelling the local authority to end a long-running sewage crisis that they say has endangered public health and violated their constitutional rights.
The application, filed on July 23 by the Chitungwiza Residents Trust (CHITREST) and eight residents, argues that raw sewage routinely flows into homes, contaminates boreholes and creates conditions that expose communities to water-borne diseases.
Represented by lawyers Kelvin Kabaya and Tinashe Chinopfukutwa of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), the applicants said the town's ageing sewer system has failed to cope with rapid residential and commercial growth, resulting in repeated sewer bursts and untreated sewage spilling into neighbourhoods.
The residents argue that despite the crisis persisting for decades, the municipality has failed to adequately repair and upgrade its sewer infrastructure, breaching its obligations under the Constitution, the Urban Councils Act, the Environmental Management Act and the Public Health Act.
They want the High Court to order the municipality to repair and upgrade its sewer network within three months and publish, within one month, an emergency plan outlining short-, medium- and long-term infrastructure repairs.
The applicants also want the court to declare the municipality's failure to properly manage sewage unconstitutional and direct the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) to monitor compliance with the emergency plan.
The matter is yet to be set down for hearing at the High Court.
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