BY RICHARD MUPONDE HARARE, renamed from the colonial Salisbury, in the early days of independence, was widely referred to as the Sunshine City owing to its squeaky-clean streets and orderly, smart and clean residential suburbs. Harare’s cleanliness and orderliness echoed throughout Sadc, and undoubtedly contributed to “The Jewel of Africa” moniker accorded the country by statesmen like Tanzania’s former President, the late Julius Mwalimu Nyerere. Sadly, the city has over the decades deteriorated to some stinky hellhole that nobody can be proud to be associated with. Old timers get nolstalgic about the old Harare when today they come across huge mounds of garbage at street corners, minefields of potholes, total absence of street lighting and a literal invasion of pavements by poverty stricken vegetable and other vendors. In the past the city fathers used to collect garbage every week which was a well-planned and monitored programme of servicing the suburbs where refuse trucks had a timetable for collecting garbage. However, things have gone out of hand as garbage heaps grow at every street corner in the central business district. Litter bugs go scot-free with no one to enforce by-laws against littering resulting in a health time bomb. The influx of vendors in the central business district (CBD) has also exacerbated the problem as they dump garbage anywhere near their operating sites without care or worry. Meanwhile council does not collect its movable bins placed at strategic points in the city making Harare an eyesore. During the lockdown period council workers took advantage of the absence of people in the CBD and cleaned it up, but that has all come to naught as the situation has returned to original dirty settings. A resident of Kuwadzana, Admire Mutengiwa, said the city council was letting residents down by not collecting garbage when every month it billed them for a once a week refuse collection. “The way the council is operating is short-changing ratepayers. I think it is wise for them not to collect our money if they can’t collect the garbage. Heaps of garbage are piling on every open space in this suburb and around the whole city. Organisations such as Environment Management Agency (EMA) should fine the council heavily because it is the one driving residents to dump garbage everywhere,” he said. Mutengiwa’s sentiments were echoed by Kelvin Pamire, from the same suburb, who said litter bugs should be arrested and the city council fined for polluting the city with uncollected garbage. “Law enforcement should take its course and those littering the environment should be brought to book. Council shouldn’t be spared because it is the driving force behind all this mess,” Pamire said. Precious Shumba, director for Harare Residents Trust (HRT), said refuse collection was virtually non-existent in Harare. “Uncollected garbage continues to pile in open spaces, at shopping centres, street corners in other residential places and the Avenues area. Residents are charged for once a week refuse collection on their monthly bi