MATABELELAND INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

After over a year and a half of engaging the Bulawayo City Council (BCC), the local authority has finally headed the Matabeleland Institute for Human Rights (MIHR) call to amend the local Authority’s environmental bylaws though the proposed amendments still fall short of what environmental stakeholders have been asking for.

MIHR began in 2021 to engage the Bulawayo City Council to amend the 1979 Solid Waste Management bylaws and integrate informal waste pickers into the solid waste management system.

On 31 October 2023, BCC issued a notice that it is amending the Solid Waste Management bylaw and the Environmental Management Bylaw. MIHR has been analysing the 2 bylaws and has noted that whilst there are some progressive improvements from the previous ones, there is still serious improvements needed especially on the following matters:

1. The Solid Waste Management Bylaw

• The bylaw still retains it’s contentious clause that prohibits waste pickers from picking waste in waste receptacles that await council collection thus technically prohibiting the work of over 800 solid waste pickers in the City who survive solely on waste picking as the only source of livelihood.
• Section 28(6) prohibits entry into the waste disposal site and removal of any material therein without the permission of the Director. It does not specify how or the conditions for getting the permission. Our concern is that this clause may be used to block the over 200 waste pickers surviving on picking waste from Bulawayo’s Richmond Landfill site from continuing with their livelihood.
• Section 32(1)(d) prohibits any person from collecting, sorting, recovering, storing or re-using “waste with the intention of making profit including scarp dealers, waste treatment facilities and formalised recycling groups unless the person is registered by Council”. The bylaw further clarifies the registration process which needs money and this is an affront to the work of waste pickers and upcyclers.
• The bylaw is silent about electronic waste management.

2. The Environmental Management Bylaw is also silent about the role of waste pickers and community environmental committees in waste management in the City.

Conclusion

MIHR is therefore finalizing its analysis and will soon be engaging its network of Waste Pickers and community environmental rights defenders in the view of popularizing the documents. The organization will also be convening engagement platforms for Waste pickers and environmental defenders to engage with the local authority within the stipulated 30 days period.