**2.2 Poor waste collection and livability in informal settlements**

The city of Masvingo has been found to be struggling to embrace informal settlements in their service provisioning systems. Waste collection in informal settlements in Masvingo as highlighted in the table above is nonexistent; hence the people in the informal settlements are living in life threatening environments. Most of the informal settlements n the city of Masvingo are close to formally planned areas, these areas are not receiving services that are enjoyed by the former land occupiers. For example Settlements behind Mucheke bus terminus is less than 20 meters from the formally planned R section of Mucheke but this areas has never received waste collection ever since. The Garikai informal settlement is between two formal settlements of Runyararo West and Victoria Ranch but there is no waste collection in the area. Trucks that collect waste in these formal areas actually pass very close to this informal settlement to the dumping site but they do not collect waste in the area. The informal settlements are therefore excluded in the waste collection services in Masvingo City. This is not sustainable because sustainable housing calls for safety, inclusion and resilience in cities, where there are safe and affordable housing, [15]. Smets and van Linder [15] further argued that sustainable housing should see upgrading of slum dwellings and creation of housing that withstands natural disasters. The case in Masvingo however does not show anything towards the direction of sustainable housing. There are informal settlements that are very close to Mucheke River and these people suffer a lot during the winter season as they are exposed to very cold conditions. Their houses are made of collected waste materials such as plastics and cardboard boxes, which cannot withstand cold conditions. In case of any flood they are the first victims as they are less than 10 meters from the river bank. These spaces are also their work spaces, where they make their livelihoods. As a result there is a lot of waste that they are producing especially the burning of rubber for collection of wire for resale. This waste is just thrown away indiscriminately and most of it is washed into Mucheke River. This creates further environmental problems as it contaminates the water bodies that supply water to the city. The water in Mucheke River is heavily polluted and the water is now blue-black in colour showing heavy pollutants. The washing away of these wastes into Mucheke River is also affecting the aquatic life in the river because the heavily polluted water is now unable to support aquatic life. Plate 1 below shows a heap of waste that is dumped in the Mucheke River banks. The heap is composed of an assortment of waste which include dippers and other degradable waste. When rain comes all this is washed into Mucheke River thereby polluting the water. There is need for proper waste management so that the environment is protected (**Figure 1**).

One of the respondents in the informal settlement said that there river can no longer support any life. He actually said …

'… *we used to fish in this river but nowadays we cannot because we no longer can catch any fish in this river…'.*

*Towards Sustainable Housing: Waste Management in Informal Settlements in Masvingo... DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98746*

**Figure 1.** *Waste dumped in Mucheke River bank.*

The river can no longer absorb the pollutants that are being washed into it and this is no longer sustainable. If there was proper collection of waste in the informal settlements this would have minimised the amount of waste washed into the river. The pollution of the environment therefore constitutes unsustainable housing in Masvingo City. Asked why the city is not providing waste collection in informal settlement the city authorities said that there is no provision in the city by-laws and to provide services in the informal settlements. They said:

*'..Informal settlements are outside the city's jurisdiction therefore they do not provide our services…providing services will mean legalising the illegal…'.*

This exclusion is therefore a result of city regulatory framework that has remained rigid and failed to accommodate new land used that are coming up as a result of urbanisation of poverty such as informal settlements. Their service delivery system is mainly for the traditional land uses that are provided for by the Regional Town and Country Planning Act. Informal settlements, which are new land uses that are coming up due to urbanisation of poverty, have therefore remained outside the city's provisioning system of the city. This does not auger well with sustainable housing which calls for inclusion and creation of ecologically friendly environments, [13, 15]. Sustainable housing calls for inclusivity in cities where all city inhabitants are included in the city's governance system and provisioning systems. Exclusion of informal settlement in the waste management services creates life threatening environments for people in the informal settlements and this is not sustainable. Environmentally unfriendly conditions are not only dangerous to the people in the informal sector but can also affect the whole city as it can expose the whole city to disease out breaks. If one sector of the city is not healthy, it impacts negatively on the sustainability of the whole city. In order for the city to be sustainable it should be able to cater for the marginalised and vulnerable groups of the city [16, 17]. Failure to provide services to the marginalised groups also does not auger well with environmental justice, which calls for every citizen, including even the marginalised groups of the society to enjoy the same environmental goods and bads of the city, [17, 18]. If some sectors of the city experience too much environmental bads it is not sustainable. Every city inhabitants should enjoy the same degree of protection from environmental and health hazards, [19].

The need for safe and liveable spaces for the informal settlements is often neglected in many cities as many people in slum settlements are lacking a lot of services, which expose them to disease out breaks [3]. Cities are marginalsing people in the informal settlements in the provision of services resulting in the poor housing in the informal settlements, [20]. Cities prefer to deliver services to the formal sector rather than

the informal sector and this does not auger well with dictates of rights to the city and environmental justice, which calls every city inhabitant to have the same right to receive city services as basic needs [19]. The city of Masvingo therefore has been failing to offer waste collection services in informal settlements as shown by **Table 1** above and this is environmental injustice perpetrated on informal settlements.

In contrast formal areas such as City centre, Mucheke high density areas, Industry and Rujeko high density areas are receiving waste collection services on average 5 times a week, while other areas such as the Mucheke bus terminus is receiving waste collection nearly every day including weekends. However such services are not extended to informal settlements and hence waste is indiscriminately dumped all over their areas, which create environmentally unfriendly conditions. Such conditions threaten their quality of life as bad environments reduce innovation and life expectancy [13]. The **Table 2** below shows waste collection schedule in formal areas. The table shows that there is strong bias towards formal settlements than the informal sector in their delivery of waste collection services in the city of Masvingo and this does not auger well with the dictates of environmental justices, which calls for fair distribution of environmental bads and goods in the city.

There is discrimination against informal settlements in terms of waste collection and this does not auger well with environmental justice and sustainable housing. This exclusion is also a denial of the people in the informal settlements' right to the city. According to the theory of right to the city, every city inhabitant has the right to receive services from the city, [14, 21–24]. Therefore the practice obtaining in the city of Masvingo where people in the informal settlements are sidelined in waste management is not sustainable. Adamec et al. [12] argued that sustainable housing should fight social isolation and promote inclusivity in the city, where all city inhabitants are treated the same and afforded the same quality of housing. The exclusion in waste management services creates poor environments in spaces occupied by informal settlements, which usually results in elevated risk of contracting diseases, [3]. The deprivation of waste management services in informal settlements also creates hostile environments characterised by high prevalence of disease causing agents. This then calls for inclusion of informal settlements in the delivery of waste management services for sustainable city.

The Masvingo city has remained against informal activities despite the wide prevalence of informal activities in the city. Urban informality in the city of Masvingo constitutes more that 80% of the [25, 26], but the city is doing nothing to integrate informality in their mainstream economy. The city up to now does not have a policy on urban informality, a thing that is hindering the growth and development of urban informality in the city. Issues of urban informality are still being dealt on a piece-meal basis without any comprehensive plan. The city does not even have by-laws that deal with urban informality and worse it is still being managed by

