TRANSPORT minister Felix Mhona has been taken to the High Court over defective flyovers in the capital that are posing a risk to residents and motorists.
In the court application, Harare residents are seeking an order compelling Mhona to rectify the defects identified at flyovers located along Simon Mazorodze Road and Lytton Road in Harare.
They want the defects to be attended to within 90 days.
The Harare Residents Trust (HRT) said failure to attend to the defects was in contravention of residents’ rights to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being as enshrined in section 73(1) of the Constitution.
Tonderai Bhatasara of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights filed the court application on behalf of HRT represented by a local resident, Loreen Mupesa.
Mupesa said she frequently used roads located on the flyovers.
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She said Mhona had a duty to safeguard people’s lives by ensuring that roads in the country were safe.
According to HRT and Mupesa, the defects on the two flyovers were identified by officials from the Transport ministry and City of Harare in 2012 following a joint inspection.
Some of the defects which were noted include spilling of concrete on bottom flanges of beams on edges, severe corrosion to reinforcement steel and visible cracks along the centreline deck.
Their report also noted severely damaged expansion joints, excessive vibration of superstructure, poor drainage of superstructure, water leaking on expansion joints and longitudinal cracks.
HRT and Mupesa argued that Mhona’s ministry had in 2021 acknowledged the existence of the defects on the flyovers but failed to attend to them.
They now want an order compelling Mhona and his ministry to repair the flyover to eliminate the danger which they pose to motorists and other road users.