Raw Sewage Floods Glen View 3, Residents Forced Outdoors

Raw sewage has flooded Glen View 3 in Harare for six weeks (image source)

For six weeks, more than 50 families in Glen View 3 have endured raw sewage seeping through their yards and homes, forcing residents to bathe in the open under cover of darkness or in makeshift basins indoors. Despite repeated pleas, Harare City Council has yet to repair the collapsed sewer line, heightening fears of waterborne diseases and growing anger at local authorities.

The crisis began in mid-August when a decades-old sewer trunk collapsed beneath Munodawafa Street, sending effluent into adjacent compounds. Residents say attempts to notify council through the 24/7 hotline (04 702 200 – Harare City Council) and the municipal Facebook page yielded only promises of dispatching a team that never arrived.

“It’s humiliating. We can’t invite guests and our children risk cholera,” said Sheila Mudzuri, a mother of four. “At night we light a torch to bathe outside because the stench indoors is unbearable.”

According to the Harare City Council’s 2024 Annual Report, Zimbabwe’s capital has a sewer network spanning over 1 200 km, of which 35 percent is in urgent need of rehabilitation. The report warns that “aging infrastructure, budget constraints and limited technical capacity have contributed to frequent pipe bursts across high-density suburbs.”

In nearby Hatcliffe, a similar collapse in January led to a five-day shutdown of drinking water when raw effluent contaminated the mains, confirmed by the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC). Health experts say stagnating sewage is a breeding ground for Vibrio cholerae and dysentery-causing bacteria.

“Exposure to untreated sewage can trigger outbreaks of cholera, typhoid and diarrhoeal diseases,” explained Dr Mercy Chihuri of the Ministry of Health and Child Care. “Without urgent intervention, Glen View 3 faces a public health emergency.”

Community leaders have petitioned councillor Farai Mapfumo (Ward 25) and local Member of Parliament Sharon Kaseke to allocate emergency funds from the devolution kitty. However, Mapfumo told the Southerton Business Times that council’s maintenance budget for 2025 was cut by US$1.4 million amid a US$50 million revenue shortfall cited in the 2024–25 Treasury estimates.

Harare’s sewer system dates to the 1930s, originally designed for a population under 200 000. Today, the city serves over 2 million people, with system overloads and illegal connections common in high-density areas such as Glen View and Mbare. A 2022 UN-Habitat study found that more than 40 percent of Harare households lack access to reliable sanitation.

Last year’s cholera outbreak, which claimed 170 lives nationwide, was partly traced to sewage-contaminated water in suburbs ignored for decades, noted a 2024 WHO situation report.

Residents plan to stage a protest outside council offices next week if repairs aren’t completed within 48 hours. Civil society groups urge the government to fast-track the Harare Metro Sanitation Upgrade Project, funded by a US$150 million African Development Bank loan, to replace crumbling sewers citywide. As families continue bathing under the stars, the cost of inaction could be measured not just in outrage, but in lives lost to preventable disease.