HARARE — Freelance journalist Judith Nyuke was killed after being struck by a Geo Pomona waste-management truck in Harare, as the company faces mounting responsibility for waste collection in Zimbabwe’s cities and a government deadline to take over the service in Bulawayo.
Nyuke, 39, was hit along Harare Drive near Art Farm in Pomona at about 3.30pm on Saturday, according to police spokesman Commissioner Paul Nyathi. She was a specialist court reporter who had worked with H-Metro and 263Chat.
“More details will be released as investigations continue,” Nyathi said.
The death has cast a sombre shadow over the government’s drive to extend the Geo Pomona model beyond Harare. Only days before the crash, Local Government and Public Works Minister Daniel Garwe had ordered the Bulawayo City Council to sign an agreement with the company within one week and prepare for its involvement in the city’s waste-collection and landfill operations.
Geo Pomona confirmed that one of its vehicles was involved in the fatal crash and said it had contacted Nyuke’s family to offer support. The company said it was cooperating with the authorities and had begun its own review of safety and risk-management procedures.
“We are deeply saddened by this tragic incident, and our heartfelt condolences go to the family and loved ones of the deceased,” the company said in a statement.
“We extend our deepest sympathies to everyone who has been affected by this devastating loss during what is undoubtedly an extremely difficult and painful time.”
The company said it would respect the privacy of Nyuke’s family while the investigation proceeds. It declined to give further details about the location, time or precise cause of the crash beyond the information released by the authorities.
“Out of respect for the deceased and their family, and while the official investigation is ongoing, we will refrain from speculating on the circumstances of the incident or making any further comment that could interfere with or prejudice the investigation,” Geo Pomona said.
The company added: “The safety and wellbeing of our employees, communities and all road users remain of the utmost importance to Geo Pomona.”
The crash occurred as Geo Pomona’s profile was expanding rapidly. In Harare, the company operates the Pomona Waste Management facility under an arrangement that the government has presented as a model for other urban centres. Officials have now moved to reproduce that model in Bulawayo, where the city has struggled with refuse collection, landfill fires and persistent pollution around Richmond Landfill, commonly known as Ngozi Mine.
Garwe visited Bulawayo on 10 September with Geo Pomona chief executive Dilesh Nguwaya and told Mayor David Coltart and town clerk Christopher Dube that the company would take over waste management with or without the local authority’s consent. He said Cabinet had approved the replication of the Harare model in other cities.
“There is a precedent in terms of the law that has been set. Cabinet made a decision that a private project be implemented in the city of Harare,” Garwe said.
“Once that private project has become successful, we replicate it here and you have no authority whatsoever to resist a Cabinet decision. Please take note.”
The minister said central government would implement the directive itself if the town clerk could not move quickly enough. He told the mayor that the council had to engage Geo Pomona and produce a memorandum of agreement for signature the following week.
“I want to see the memorandum of agreement next week for signature,” he directed.
Bulawayo had already started its own search for a private waste-management partner. The council invited companies to submit expressions of interest and received three compliant bids in October 2025. The proposals were sent to the Procurement Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Investment and Development Agency for guidance.
The council later submitted a prefeasibility study on 23 June 2026 for consideration by the committee responsible for public-private partnerships. That committee was due to discuss the proposal on 8 September, but the process had not been completed when Garwe issued his directive two days later.
Councillors initially sought to retain control of the process. At a special meeting on 14 September, they instructed management to obtain a draft memorandum of understanding from Geo Pomona before any final decision was made. Coltart said the council had acknowledged the minister’s instruction but had not set a deadline for approving a deal.
“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.
By 16 September, however, the council had resolved to comply with the government directive and authorised its management to negotiate with Geo Pomona, with a report to be brought back to councillors after the negotiations. The move opened the way for private-sector involvement in the city’s waste system, although the terms of the agreement remained to be settled.
The council has also faced equipment failures and limited resources. Breakdowns of landfill machinery have made it difficult to manage waste, while inconsistent refuse collection has added pressure to the disposal site. The amount of rubbish generated in Bulawayo has continued to strain infrastructure that the local authority has struggled to maintain.
Garwe said President Emmerson Mnangagwa had taken a personal interest in the landfill crisis and instructed officials to act urgently.
“We came here with clear instructions from my principal that the Ngozi Mine situation is now of great concern to the President and solutions must be provided now,” the minister said.
He described the government’s plan as a replication of the Harare arrangement, with Geo Pomona expected to bring waste processing, landfill rehabilitation and related services to Bulawayo. He said the city could continue with a feasibility study, but that the central government had already decided to proceed with the company, with work expected to begin as early as October.
Nguwaya said the company would prioritise local employment. That would include council waste collectors and people who currently survive by scavenging at Ngozi Mine. He said the company would not need to bring large numbers of workers from Harare and claimed it already had the equipment and capacity to begin work.
“Importing labour from Harare would be too expensive for us anyway. Our model is to absorb the council’s waste collectors and also the people that survive from Ngozi Mine who would have to move once we come in,” Nguwaya said.
“We are going to start by mining the dump as soon as we sign the Memorandum of Understanding with the city fathers. We have the equipment and capacity, and we are ready to do the work.”
In Harare, the company’s agreement has been described by officials as a long-term project. The government directed the city to engage Geo Pomona under a 30-year arrangement, with the company reportedly charging up to US$40,000 a day, or at least US$2.7 million a month, for waste collection. When the city said it could not meet the bill, the government proposed redirecting part of its devolution funds to pay the company.
The fatal crash involving Nyuke has now placed the company’s vehicles, operating practices and safety systems under immediate attention as police investigate what happened on Harare Drive. Geo Pomona said its internal review would run alongside the official inquiry.
“Geo Pomona takes this incident with the utmost seriousness. The company has initiated an internal review and is cooperating fully with the relevant authorities as they establish the circumstances surrounding the incident,” it said.
For Bulawayo, the next step is the proposed agreement that will define the company’s role at Ngozi Mine and in the city’s collection system. For Nyuke’s colleagues and family, the immediate concern is mourning a journalist whose working life centred on reporting from Zimbabwe’s courts and public institutions.
The two developments have placed the company’s expanding public role and its responsibilities on the roads in the same national spotlight. Geo Pomona is expected to continue negotiations with Bulawayo while its vehicle remains part of a police investigation into the death of a 39-year-old journalist.