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Patrick Chitumba Midlands Bureau Chief
The national clean-up day campaign in the Midlands province has been a success but is being hindered by the lack of service provision by local authorities resulting in the re-emergence of litter dumps along sanitary lanes, open spaces, storm drains and along major highways. Addressing officials from Zvishavane town council, Government officials and members of the corporate world gathered for the National Clean-Up Day at Escrow Shopping Centre in Makwasha suburb, Zvishavane, on Friday last week,  Minister of State for Midlands Provincial Affairs Larry Mavima said the province has held over 300 campaigns to date.

“Since its inception this programme has seen over 300 clean-up campaigns being undertaken across the province. On a local level the programme has been a success but is being hindered by the lack of service provision by local authorities resulting in the re-emergence of litter dumps along sanitary lanes, open spaces, storm drains and along our highways,” he said.

Minister Mavima said the Government thus calls upon all citizens to emulate the nation’s leaders and play their role in the custody chain of solid waste management judiciously.

“We call upon the ordinary person to desist from disposing litter at undesignated points, to practise sustainable waste management principles at household level and to be an ambassador for behaviour change when it comes to the management of our surroundings.

“We are not limiting our call to the ordinary person on the street but are implying that everyone is an ordinary person at some level; hence all programmes start at the lowest level — the household level — before being up scaled to a national programme,” he said.

To the corporate world, Minister Mavima urged them to invest in technology that will make it cheaper for the ordinary person to manage their solid waste.

“We urge large corporations like Delta Beverages to fully implement the cradle to the grave principle of waste management by making a follow-up on their non-refundable containers to reduce the amount of plastic entering the environment.

“To all our local authorities we urge you in the strongest of terms to judiciously collect and dispose of waste at designated points within the confines of environmental law,” he said.