“You cannot bulldoze us into a waste deal” – Garwe’s Geo Pomona Ultimatum Sparks Procurement Backlash

BULAWAYO — The government’s attempt to force Bulawayo into a waste-management agreement with Geo Pomona within seven days has triggered a sharp backlash from residents and civic organisations, who say the ultimatum treats public procurement rules as an inconvenience and city residents as an afterthought.

Local Government Minister Daniel Garwe ordered the city to finalise the agreement after visiting Bulawayo on September 10. He warned that central government would act on its own if the council did not comply, raising questions about whether the city’s elected representatives are being given any meaningful role in a decision with major environmental, financial and public-health implications.

But Bulawayo City Council has not accepted the deadline. Instead, councillors instructed management to obtain a draft memorandum of understanding from Geo Pomona before deciding whether the proposal should proceed.

Mayor David Coltart said the council had set no deadline for signing the document.

“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.

That cautious response has frustrated the government’s attempt to present the deal as a foregone conclusion. It also exposes the central weakness in the minister’s directive: the public is being told that a major agreement must be signed, yet the agreement itself has not been published for residents to examine.

Eleven civic and residents’ organisations have rejected the proposed process, insisting that no council representative should sign the MOU until its contents are disclosed and the deal is subjected to competitive tendering.

“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.

The groups said the government’s rush was especially troubling because Bulawayo is dealing with a serious waste crisis at Richmond Landfill, known locally as Ngozi Mine. Smoke and pollution from the site have long raised concern in communities including Cowdray Park and Richmond.

Residents’ organisations said the health and environmental danger is real — but argued that an emergency cannot become a licence to avoid scrutiny, competitive bidding or the law.

“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.

They accused authorities of placing residents’ interests at risk by pushing what they called a poorly explained and opaque arrangement. The organisations also questioned the optics of Geo Pomona chief executive Dilesh Nguwaya’s dual role as a presidential adviser on waste management.

That overlap does not, by itself, establish wrongdoing. But the civic groups said it makes transparency even more important — particularly when the minister claims that Geo Pomona has received “cabinet authority” to replicate its Harare model in Bulawayo and other major cities.

The question now facing the government is simple: if the proposal is sound, why is it being driven through an ultimatum rather than a transparent public process?

The groups want the council to disclose the measures being taken to address the Cowdray Park health hazard, as demanded by residents and the Environmental Management Agency. They also want the city’s procurement process published, noting that several local companies have already expressed interest in participating.

They singled out Treger, which has been operating informally at Ngozi Mine, saying such businesses should be regularised and given an opportunity to compete instead of being shut out by a deal negotiated behind closed doors.

“Companies such as Treger have been doing business informally at Ngozi Mine therefore what is needed is regularisation,” the statement said. The companies, it added, “deserve to play a part in competitive bidding processes.”

The organisations said they had prepared an alternative plan for managing Bulawayo’s waste and were ready to present it to the council and other stakeholders.

For now, the city has refused to be stampeded into signing. The government may call its deadline decisive, but to Bulawayo residents it looks less like decisive leadership than an attempt to impose a costly public decision before the public is allowed to see the terms.

The statement was signed 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.