Residents fume over Turf Town deplorable service delivery

By Staff Writer

Residents in Turf town that is part of the broader Mhondoro-Ngezi district have slammed the local authority management led by town superintended Chewire Manjoro for running down the area and reducing it to a status of a mere growth-point despite the vast resources endowed to it.

Turf Town is situated at a crossroads, only 70 kilometres from the Harare-Bulawayo highway at the Selous intersection, but it is also approachable from the Harare-Masvingo route, being just 56km from Beatrice.

Residents who spoke to this publication however berated the way in which the town is run while direct observations by our newscrew revealed a high state of deterioration where basically everything from spilling garbage at the dumpsite to impassable roads, defunct streetlights, clogged drainage facilities and social amenities are in a sorry state.

Norest Madzivanyika, a resident from Turf urban area said a poor water billing system being used by the local authority is deliberately faulty and choking residents of their hard earned cash..

“We are being ripped off by the local authority led by Manjoro. Our bills are coming with unbelievably high figures which are distorted and an exaggeration of what we will have used. We are very angry,” said Patricia Dziva.

The worst affected areas are Ward 1 which has villages 4, 5 and 6 , as well as Ward 11 that has villages 1,2 and 3 where children get into a dumpsite owned by the council and their livestock drink contaminated water from there resulting in them dying from contracted diseases.

Ward 2 and 11 urban are mainly affected by poor drainage systems, pathetic streetlights and deplorable roads.

Another resident said most people who used to clear their bills no longer see the value of paying anything at all.

“If you pay your bill, the next month the figure that comes will be three or four times higher which makes people to now think it is better to boycott paying for bills at all,” said another resident.

Most Street lights in Turf Town have long stopped working and at night it is like a dark city.

“A lot of people are being robbed at night because we do not have street lights,” said another resident.

When it rains, Turf Town impassable because water covers up all the dusty roads making it difficult for both vehicles and pedestrians to navigate through.

“Our prayer is that Manjoro must be stopped.He has failed all of us in Turf town,” said Thomas Nyika an elderly resident of Turf Town.

Efforts to reach the local authority were fruitless as a contact number on the Mhondoro-Ngezi website was not reachable.