A subscriber sent us this picture of a City of Harare sign they spotted at the open space opposite Coca Cola in Graniteside between Seke Rd and Dieppe Ave. Whilst I’m all for no littering, I’m not sure you can tell people where they can’t pray?

Meanwhile, “litterbugs” may face community service, The Herald tells us. Hopefully this includes preventing the wholesale dumping which is taking over Harare’s open spaces, and ensuring effective waste management and collection practises across Zimbabwe.

Walking the dogs yesterday, I could see in the distance a massive cloud of smoke. It looked like it was coming from the direction of the Pomona dump, and I wondered how big the fire must be, and what it must be like for residents closer to the dump, if the thick smoke was so distinct and heavy on the horizon even from 9 kilometres away.

Bev Reeler’s blog shares the experience of one Harare resident also far away – but clearly downwind from the fire.

And this report from a subscriber tells what it’s like for someone maybe 3 or 4ks away:

8am – Monday 21 October

Just to alert Kubatana that there was a massive toxic burn taking place at the dump on Alpes Road over the weekend. The burn started on Sunday morning and has not relented yet.  The fire was so great that the smoke from it blocked out the sun.  We are over on Bryden Road, and the smoke has reached us.  It causes headaches and dizziness.

Thanks to this subscriber, here are some relevant contacts for the City of Harare to get in touch with about this fire, and also for similar issues in future:

• Mr D Chibanda who is charge of dumping – wmanagement@gmail.com
• City of Harare Waste Management – 04-752637
• Dr Mungofa from Health Services – hcchd@africaonline.co.zw
• Environmental Management Agency – 04-705671-3

October 20th 2013

Today Harare is covered in a choking pall of black toxic smoke
a thick fog seeping through every nook and cranny
the dry heat and hot winds of the last weeks has turned the city dump into a burning inferno

The scanty resources and inadequate management of our city ‘fathers’
unable to halt the fire and it’s the searing fumes

Today we sit sweltering inside (an unheard-of event on a Sunday)
watching thick smoke -  through closed windows (also an unheard-of event)
settling in waves across the vlei – the neighbouring almost invisible
and we are over 7 km from the fire as the bird flies

Today we breathe our own burning waste
the inevitable consequence of the consumerism we comfortably choose
to ignore – once we have placed it in bins and had it taken away

October 21st 2013

the fire still rages this morning
some respite earlier when the wind changed,
but it is back …
burning, choking, eye watering toxic fumes

our little bit of self-made poisonous addition to the fires in New South Wales

“The Youth Development Fund is a revolving facility and as such the youth are expected to pay back the loans so that others can use same,” Zimbabwe’s Minister of Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment said on Twitter.

“How and where is this revolving fund being distributed? Is this not a campaign gimmick? Who has benefited?” Tinashe Nyaruwanga asked the Minister.

The Minister replied that the Youth Fund is administered by CABS Stanbic Allied IDBZ and CBZ and will soon publish the total amounts.

Asked how one accesses the Fund, the Minister said “please contact Mr Sigobodhla on 04-707741 with your business proposal.”

One of my pet peeves in Harare is water leaks. I hate seeing a burst pipe sending precious water into the verge or down the road – particularly when just meters away you can see people queuing to get water from a neighbour’s borehole, struggling to push a wheelbarrow full of water drums up the road, or straining with a container full of water on their heads.

Many Harare suburbs rarely or never receive municipal water supplies, and it is likely to be a very long time before the city supplies all households with water regularly. In the meantime, help make sure that what little municipal water there is makes it into your and your neigbhours’ taps.

Report water leaks and burst pipes to Harare water:  Phone 04-700087 / 791101 / 772453 & ask them to fix it.