48-Hour Ultimatum To Harare, EMA To Address Lake Chivero Disaster – Eduzim News

By A Correspondent| Environmental and water rights campaigners have given a 48-hour ultimatum to City of Harare (CoH), the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and Upper Manyame Sub-Catchment Council (UMSCC) to immediately stop endangering the lives of people and animals through decontaminating Lake Chivero and stop the discharge of raw sewage effluent into the capital city’s primary water source.

The ultimatum is contained in letters written and dispatched to CoH, EMA and UMSCC on Monday 16 December 2024 by Harare Wetlands Trust (HWT), which is represented by Tinashe Chinopfukutwa and Kelvin Kabaya of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.

In the letters, HWT said it had learnt about the contamination of Lake Chivero from a press statement published by Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority on 13 December 2024 on its social media platforms, where it advised that four rhinos, three zebras, four wildebeests, four fish eagles as well as an undisclosed number of cattle and goats from nearby farms had died due to cyanobacteria contamination at Lake Chivero Recreational Park.

The details contained in the press statement were also published and widely reported in some national newspapers and some online publications.

HWT said it reasonably believes that the pollution by cyanobacteria in Lake Chivero is caused by CoH’s conduct of constantly dumping raw sewage effluent in Lake Chivero over the years and expressed its deep concern that the dire situation can lead to the loss of animal life, aqua life and aqua bio-diversity.

The environmental rights lobby organisation said several people carry out fishing activities in Lake Chivero in which they obtain fish for resale and consumption and this has a ripple effect on people consuming contaminated fish.

More disconcerting, HWT said, is that the cyanobacteria pollution makes the water in Lake Chivero unsafe and dangerous for human consumption and use.

HWT said as a tier of government and according to the provisions of section 73 of the Constitution, CoH has a constitutional obligation to take all the necessary steps to ensure that the environment is protected and conserved for the benefit of present and future generations.

HWT said citizens who rely on Lake Chivero as a source of water, have a constitutionally guaranteed right to a safe and healthy environment which is not harmful to their health, which right is guaranteed in terms of section 73(1) of the Constitution.

In addition, HWT said in terms of section 4(2)(g) of the Environmental Management Act, CoH’s conduct of discharging raw sewage effluent into Lake Chivero being one of the causes of the cyanobacteria pollution, obliges the local authority to bear the duty of decontaminating Lake Chivero as well as the burden of taking preventive measures to ensure that the cyanobacteria pollution does not recur or is otherwise minimised in future.

The environmental and water rights lobbyists demanded that CoH should within 48 hours immediately take measures to decontaminate Lake Chivero and immediately stop discharging raw sewage effluent into it.

The local authority, HWT said, should immediately take steps to ensure that cyanobacteria pollution does not recur in Lake Chivero or is otherwise minimised in future and should notify members of the public through radio broadcasts, its social media handles and all its district office notice boards that Lake Chivero is contaminated and advise members of the public from consuming or buying fish from Lake Chivero.

In the event of CoH failing to comply with its demands, HWT said it will proceed to institute litigation against the local authority to obtain appropriate relief.

In its letter to EMA, HWT demanded that the state-run body should urgently conduct water quality tests at Lake Chivero to ascertain the extent and levels of the cyanobacteria pollution and serve an Environmental Protection Order on CoH directing it to immediately take measures to decontaminate Lake Chivero and to immediately stop discharging raw sewage effluent into Lake Chivero and also serve an Environmental Protection Order on UMSCC directing it to take urgent steps to stop the cyanobacteria pollution in Lake Chivero and to decontaminate Lake Chivero.

The environmental and water rights lobbyists said in terms of section 10 of the Environmental Management Act, EMA is reposed with a host of statutory duties, which include regulating and monitoring the disposal, treatment and recycling of waste, regulating and monitoring the discharge or emission of any pollutant or hazardous substance into the environment, undertaking any works deemed necessary for the protection of the environment and to issue and serve Environmental Protection Orders.

In the event of EMA failing to meet its demands, HWT said it will proceed to institute litigation against EMA.

In its letter to UMSCC, HWT demanded that the statutory water management body should within 24 hours furnish it with details of the cause, nature and extent of the cyanobacteria contamination of Lake Chivero and share information as to whether any measures are being taken to de-contaminate Lake Chivero and specify the nature of such measures being taken.

UMSCC, HWT said, should also advise it if it has issued any measures and or recommendations to prevent recurrence of the contamination of water in Lake Chivero and specify such measures and recommendations.

Failure to do so, HWT said, would leave it with no option but to take legal action against UMSCC to compel it to furnish the environmental and water rights campaigners with the requested information.

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