By Thandiwe Garusa
HARARE Wetlands Trust has given Harare City Council (HCC) a 48-hour ultimatum to address raw sewage contaminating Lake Chivero’s water.
Thousands of fish, and four white rhinos, along with other wildlife and livestock, have perished after consuming water from the lake that was contaminated with cyanobacteria.
In a letter to the city council, Harare Wetlands Trust called for urgent measures to decontaminate the lake and take other necessary actions.
If the local authority fails to comply and address the situation, the Wetlands Trust through the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) vowed to sue.
“From our client’s professional experience and expertise, our client reasonably believes that the pollution by cyanobacteria in Lake Chivero is caused by the City of Harare’s conduct of constantly dumping raw sewage effluent in Lake Chivero over the years.
“Our client, being a not-for-profit organisation whose main objective, inter alia, is the environmental protection of all water bodies and aqua biodiversity and aqua deeply concerned that this dire situation can lead to the loss of animal life, aqua 1 aqua bio-diversity.
“Our client also understands that people carry out fishing activities in Lake Chivero in which they obtain fish for resale and consumption. This has a ripple effect on people consuming contaminated fish,” the letter reads.
According to the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks), the water pollution was largely caused by raw sewage, particularly from the Marimba area in Harare.