EnviroPress Reporter
The Masvingo Residents and Ratepayers Alliance has applied to the High Court seeking an order barring City of Masvingo from further using the dumpsite between Runyararo West and Victoria Ranch.
MURRA wants the municipality to stop using the dumpsite with immediate effect so that it would dispose garbage at a more sustainable site.
In its application stamped at Masvingo High Court on 24 January, 2025, MURRA argues that through continuous use of the dumpsite, Masvingo City Council was violating residents’ environmental rights as highlighted in a Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission Report released in 2024.
“The First Applicant is seeking an interdict in terms of the provision of the Section 14 of the High Court Act [Chapter7:06] barring the first Respondent or its lawful agents or assignees from disposing waste at the dumpsite area located in Runyararo West, Masvingo,” reads part of the application
In the application MURRA states that it raised a complaint on the matter during the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) during the Environmental Rights Thematic Working Group Stakeholder Engagement Meeting held in Masvingo in July 2023.
“The complaint raised was to the effect that the 1st Respondent was violating the environmental rights of residents of that area in that the 1st Respondent is continuing to make use of the dumpsite. The complaint was to the effect that the dumpsite was now a health hazard to the residents of Runyararo West who reside close to the dumpsite area,” further reads the application.
After the complaint raised by MURRA, ZHRC conducted an investigation and published a report which acknowledged that the dumpsite posed a health hazard to the surrounding community, and violated residents’ environmental rights and section 70 of the Environmental Management Act.
The Environmental Management Agency is cited in the application as the second respondent, but solely for information and interest purposes, with no order sought against it.
Masvingo City Council had made many false promises about building a new landfill at Cambria Farm which would lead to the discontinuation of use of the current dumpsite.
The local authority actually invited Vice President Kembo Mohadi to cut the ribbon at the new landfill in June 2023 when the works were far from complete.