Garbage and crime: The day-to-day life in Khongolote

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Garbage and crime: The day-to-day life in Khongolote

1:35 CAT | 05 Jun 2018

File photo: Notícias

Garbage and crime make up daily life in Khongolote, Matola municipality. One of the most extensive and populous of the municipality, the neighbourhood has about 60,000 inhabitants, living in 95 blocks.

Khongolote began to be so densely populated shortly after the floods in the year 2000, when the government, in coordination with various humanitarian organisations, implemented a resettlement project for households living in flood-prone areas.

Eighteen years later, the neighbourhood is a housing development with masonry buildings, some modern, and, in rare cases, standing upright. Economic and social infrastructure accompanied the expansion, and Kongolote now has six schools, three secondary and three primary; a municipal market and many other informal ones; a health centre; a police station; two fuel stations and ATMs, among other amenities.

However, residents say that, even in the presence of a police unit, thieves continue to rob homes and commercial establishments,especially at night.

Our reporter learned that three commercial establishments and five homes had been robbed by unidentified individuals recently, causing uproar in the neighbourhood. According to Albano Manuel, head of block 75, the police are working to solve the crimes and bring the offenders to justice.

Criminals, as Albano Manuel has pointed out, steal almost anything they can get their hands on, from monetary values, food products, televisions, stereos, DVDs, chairs, gas cylinders and clothes.

Neighbourhood resident Paula Manuela, says there are areas where, from 10 p.m. on, people cannot go about for fear of the miscreants, who hide among the ruins and shrubbery and assault passers-by with blunt instruments.

Ernesto da Graça, another resident, tells us that criminals attack people on the street and steal their belongings, especially cell phones and laptops.

The lack of lighting on some public roads in Khongolote makes it easier for the criminals, some residents told “Noticias”. Resident Tomás Mazive, for example, said that many assaults occur in the streets without public lighting.

Hélder João, another resident, said that crime is a concern because malefactors break into businesses and homes and steal goods at night. But, he says, robberies are even perpetrated in broad daylight.

Sometimes the victims, he says, are surprised in their homes and are subject to abuse, to the point of surrendering their belongings to the intruders.

Robberies among neighbours

Cremildo Tonga, an official at the Khongolote police station, told Notícias that most of the robberies are carried out by the residents themselves, especially when they realise their neighbours are away, and confirmed that many of these cases occur in daylight and involve the theft of household goods such as gas bottles, TV sets and stereos, mobile phones and other household items.

“The robberies are carried out by young neighbourhood residents who, when they realise a house is empty, break down the door and steal the goods. Due to this situation, we are even considering patrolling during the day,” he said.

Poor waste collection

Another concern keeps Khongolote resident awake at nights is the poor collection of solid waste, mainly in the main market.

Residents say that the containers have been overflowing for a long time but are still not removed, a situation rife with danger to public health. Puddles accumulate, breeding ground for malaria and gastro-intestinal diseases.

Paula Manuela said that one solution would be for residents to dig refuse pits in their back yards, but this measure on its own would not solve the problem.

“We’ve asked the municipal authorities to provide a truck that to collect the garbage regularly, because we are suffering. Even though we regularly pay the garbage fee. We cannot continue to suffer in this way,” she says.

José Bazima, the neighbourhood secretary, acknowledges that there are serious problems in collecting solid waste, but says he has told residents to separate out their garbage because they often deposit inert material in the containers.

“Citizens do not have a culture of separating out the garbage, and they often mix solid waste with sand. A lot of space in the containers is taken up with sand and not proper garbage,” he says.

Bazima acknowledges that the crime has been on the rise recently but says that in the next few days he will meet with the police to find ways to restore tranquillity to the neighbourhood.

He added that the police had already met the local business community to seek to put an end the robberies, but there was no follow up.

By Walter Mbenhane

Source: Notícias