13/09/2026
An elephant in the room - expert views on the attempts to impose Geo- Pomona on City of Bulawayo 's Ngozi mine landfill challenges- unpacking the real problem.
On Friday the 11th of September, media was awash with news that His Excellency The President, Dr ED Mnangagwa has, through the minister of Local Government and Public Works, Hon Daniel Garwe directed that City of Bulawayo work with Geo Pomona in addressing the dire situation of pollution at Richmond Waste Management site popularly known as Ngozi Mine.
By
Dr Anglistone T Sibanda
Climate Change mitigation expert.
While the objective on the alleged direction by His Excellency is a noble cause that seeks to ameliorate the climate and environmental crisis affecting residents at Cowdray Park, there is definitely something wrong with that directive judging from the way the Hon Minister is handling the issue.
1. The President is represented by the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Hon Judith Ncube in Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, a directive from His Excellency would normally come through the President's official representative in Bulawayo.
2. The imposition of the perceived solution violets the very same principle of devolution of power the His Excellency, The President Dr ED Mnangagwa has been championing. Hon Garwe as Central Government, is imposing himself and the central government "Solution" to the City of Bulawayo without consulting the local Authority or seeking views from the local players and experts. I am aware that NUST is working on something on Ngozi mine.
3. Hon Garwe's actions, packaged as a directive from His Excellency are violating the tender regulations and exposing vested interests in the project.
Now let me unravel expert views on Geo Pomona technology.
The company has done a Stirling job in cleaning the City of Harare that had become a haven of filth over years due to neglect and failure by City fathers to manage the City. Successive councilors had presided over delapidating infrastructure and equipment as well service delivery collapse resulting in a serious waste management crisis over years. Geo Pomona has managed to solve this crisis, credit to them.
While the company has done a splendid job in cleaning the streets of Harare, sorting waste and ensuring that every street corner in Harare has a waste collection point, Geo Pomona is yet to commission its waste to energy project as per it's mandate and scope a couple of years down the line.
The elephant in the room is not waste management in the case of Bulawayo.
City of Bulawayo contracted local companies to who are collecting waste to support it's limited fleet of compactors.
In August 2024, l personally travelled with the Town Clerk Mr Christopher Dube and Engineer Dibiti and Dr Sibanda with the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Hon Judith Ncube to Belarus in search of sustainable solutions for waste management.
We saw how they do it in Belarus and the City was interested by the limiting factor was the cost of bringing the technology to Zimbabwe without central government support.
The elephant is the room is climate impact of Ngozi mine landfill and l put my neck on the block or my body on the firing line: Geo Pomona has not proven beyond reasonable doubt that is has the technical expertise or the capacity to solve the real problem of Green House Gas Emissions and the Executive Chairman, Dr Dilesh Nguwaya and his team know that and it is a fact. Methane gas is currently being released at scale in Pomona as we speak and the company has no technical capacity to trap it.
I challenge Dr Nguwaya to submit a10kg gas cylinder full of methane gas trapped from Pomona to prove that they are able solve the GHG Emissions problem which is the real elephant in the room in landfills.
The problem is that politicians think that they know everything and do not care to listen to researchers and experts but rush to quick fix solutions without engaging a cross section of stakeholders to get to the real problem.
Ngozi mine, like all other open landfills across the world because of anthropogenic activities, is a big source of GHG Emissions. I have visited several landfills in the region including South Africa, Botswana, Zambia, Eswatini they are all emitting giga tons of Methane gas to the ozone per year. This is a global challenge that needs urgent action to halt the temperature rise that is causing El Nino.
This is the real problem but Geo Pomona is very good at collecting and sorting waste not in abating Methane Emissions yet methane is responsible for 40% of the ground temperature rise and major driver of the climate catastrophe facing the world that needs urgent action.
Even if Geo Pomona were to process the waste into energy, that energy will be dirty energy in as far as Climate Change mitigation is concerned because they will be incinerating waste to generate heat for heating boilers to produce pressure to run turbines for power generation, the same way Hwange is burning coal.
Geo Pomona is limited, it is not the best model scientifically speaking, though a profound initiative in the context of Harare not Bulawayo.
It is not a the best model scientifically.
While they do waste mining in Pomona, Gigatons of fugitive methane gas that is eighty times potent to the ozone are released into the ozone, the same way that billows are released by Ngozi mine currently in Bulawayo and other landfill in the world.
Ngozi mine and City of Bulawayo needs a more robust and sustainable approach. They need technology that can trap the landfill methane and turn it into methane gas for energy, then promote at source waste separation. This means every household and every business or social premise must be involved. In such a situation, imposition of companies preferred by a minister does not work, residents in Bulawayo will antagonize that initiative and it will fail.
Sustainable waste management systems are inclusive and people centric by nature. You need buy- in and active participation of the community before you do anything.
Over and above, that waste management methane abatement projects earn high value Carbon Credits that have several impact and revenue streams if done properly.
City of Bulawayo stands to benefit from those and Geo Pomona in all honesty has no technical expertise nor capacity to use that route hence they cannot raise funding through Green or Climate Finance systems because theirs is Business as Usual (BAU) route. There is no additionality in the project hence it cannot earn carbon credits.
Therefore the City of Bulawayo and Residents will shoulder the bill like City of Harare.
As climate change shocks keep rising in frequency and severity, Zimbabwe cannot afford to keep unleashing methane into the Ozone while bearing the costs of the disproportionate impact of the climate shocks.
Let us and our leaders learn to look at Sustainability beyond the riches and think about the future above money.
Bulawayo is capable of collecting its own waste through local Companies, Hon Garwe must come and explain how his imposed company will work with the local companies and above all unpack the funding model and co- benefits of his idea to the Bulawayo Community otherwise he will go the same way Engineer Munacho Mutezu went back in 2005.
Politicians do not learn from history sometimes. Bulawayo is a different setting and no imposition of solutions will be accepted by the people. If anything Hon Garwe's move will antagonize ZANU PF in Bulawayo.
City of Bulawayo needs to follow tender process without undue influence and look for a technology partner who can do methane abatement projects that create green jobs and earn the city funding rather that milk the city in direct contradiction to His Excellency, The President, Dr E.D Mnangagwa' s inclusive development and Devolution centered trajectory.
We need to be consulted Hon Garwe. A good intentioned idea can create wrong impressions if improperly handled.
Bulawayo does not need Geo Pomona model to solve the Climate and Environmental crisis at Ngozi Mine, it needs a detailed scientific climate focused inclusive process that has proven additionality and Digitally Monitored impact measuring systems to quantify Methane Abatement impact and TCO2E not BAU.
I submit.
Dr Anglistone Sibanda
Is Executive Director of PAPRUM Green Projects Pvt ltd and founder of Africa Carbon Markets Forum, and climate change mitigation projects development expert and carbon Markets expert , ESG as well as lead consultant in Local Authorities in Climate Action - Environmental Sustainability Monograph, authored the City of Bulawayo and other Local Authorities' Environmental Sustainability Monograph - Climate Action strategies
