City Of Harare | Stick to your regulatory duties, EMA told

Mayor Cllr Jacob Mafume says the Ministry of Climate and Environmental Management and the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) must stick to their mandatory duties of being regulatory authorities and stop meddling in Council operations. He said this while addressing journalists at a press conference held Town House. This comes after EMA announced that it is going to take over the collection of garbage in the city after accusing council of failing. Mayor Mafume said if EMA is willing to assist it should hand over the trucks it has acquired and let Council do its job. "I saw the announcement by Ministry of Environment where they announced after buying two new trucks and some old equipment that they are going to take over the collection of refuse in the city. "We are being subjected to amateur hour by these announcements. The refuse operation is a huge operation that requires a lot of resources. If they had bought 20 trucks or two as they are saying, they are better off surrendering the trucks to City of Harare. "EMA and the Ministry are regulatory Authorities and they should stick to the issue of regulatory and enforcement of fines," said Cllr Mafume Cllr Mafume said refuse collection is not a simple matter but needs collective efforts if they are to succeed in dealing with it completely. He added that if they have money that money should be used to add to the equipment that council have. Cllr Mafume disputed the idea of hiring as being suggested by the Ministry saying council will pay for deals it did not authorize. He said council doors are open for those with ideas to assist in coming with ways to do away with continuous piling of refuse. He said Council has 15 trucks which are being held in South Africa due to none availability of foreign currency and efforts to assist in that area were more realistic.