BULAWAYO — Bulawayo City Council has not committed to signing a waste-management agreement with Geo Pomona, despite Local Government Minister Daniel Garwe’s instruction that the deal be concluded within seven days.
A coalition of 11 residents’ and civic organisations has challenged the directive, arguing that the proposed arrangement must first be made public and subjected to a competitive procurement process.
In a joint statement, the organisations said Mayor David Coltart and town clerk Christopher Dube were examining the minister’s order in light of the Urban Councils Act. They maintained, however, that the council’s elected officials should not approve the memorandum of understanding (MOU) before its terms are disclosed and the required tender procedures are followed.
“The position of the residents is that our elected representatives must not proceed to sign the MOU until its contents are published, ventilated and put through a competitive tender to fulfil existing city and national procurement regulations,” the organisations said.
Councillors met in an emergency session on Monday to discuss the directive. Coltart later said the council had instructed its management to request a draft agreement from Geo Pomona for review, rather than agree to sign the document immediately.
He said the council had imposed no deadline on that process.
“We have noted the directive and asked management to speak to Geo Pomona to obtain a draft MOU for further consideration by council. We have not set any time limits for this. Once we have the draft MOU back we will meet to consider what it says,” Coltart said.
Garwe issued the directive during a visit to Bulawayo on September 10. He was accompanied by Geo Pomona chief executive Dilesh Nguwaya and United Nations resident coordinator Rosemary Kalapurakal. The minister warned that central government could proceed without the council if the city failed to finalise the agreement within the stated period.
According to Garwe, Geo Pomona had received “cabinet authority” to extend the waste-management model used in Harare to other major cities, including Bulawayo.
The proposed deal comes as the city faces persistent concerns about pollution and smoke from the Richmond Landfill, commonly known as Ngozi Mine, located near Cowdray Park and Richmond.
The civic groups said they recognised the serious environmental and public-health risks associated with the landfill. They argued, however, that those concerns could not be used to bypass procurement and consultation requirements.
“The move to finalise the Geo Pomona deal undermines Zimbabwe’s procurement procedures which are clearly stated in the Public Finance Management Act and Urban Council’s Act,” the statement said.
The organisations said they were concerned that the relevant legal safeguards may have been ignored, to the detriment of Bulawayo residents, and described the proposed arrangement as lacking transparency.
They also raised questions about a possible conflict of interest, pointing out that Nguwaya is both Geo Pomona’s chief executive and a presidential adviser on waste management.
The groups further called on the council to disclose the steps it is taking to address the health threat in Cowdray Park, an issue previously raised by residents and the Environmental Management Agency. They also urged the city to publish details of its own procurement process, saying several local companies had already expressed interest.
Treger, for example, has been operating informally at Ngozi Mine, the organisations said, arguing that the company and similar businesses should be regularised and allowed to compete for any future contract.
“Companies such as Treger have been doing business informally at Ngozi Mine therefore what is needed is regularisation,” the statement said. Such companies, it added, “deserve to play a part in competitive bidding processes.”
The organisations said they had developed an alternative approach to managing Bulawayo’s waste and were prepared to present it to the council and other stakeholders.
The statement was endorsed by Ibhetshu Likazulu, the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association, Constitution Defenders Forum, Defend the Constitution Platform, SWITA, Habakkuk Trust, the Bulawayo Waste Management Traders Association, the Public Policy Research Institute of Zimbabwe, the Bulawayo Vendors and Traders Organization, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and Cowdray Park Residents.
