The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) has given Harare City Council forty-eight (48) hours to fix the drainage systems in the capital city’s high-density suburbs including the central business district CBD.
This comes after many suburbs in Harare were hit by flash floods during the current rainy season due to poorly maintained drainage systems.
CHRA said residents will continue experiencing such flash floods unless the water drainage system is attended to, thus putting residents at risk of contracting waterborne diseases.
In a letter written on their by Tinashe Chinopfukutwa of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) on 19 January 2022 to the Town Clerk of the City of Harare, CHRA said the local authority was violating residents’ right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being by failing to fix the drainage system.
CHRA warned the Harare City Council that if it fails to maintain, repair and refurbish the drainage system in the high-density suburbs, the residents association will be left with no option but to institute proceedings for a court order compelling it to do so.
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights