adminNqobileTshili, Chronicle Correspondent
THE Environmental Management Agency (EMA) has ticketed 50 companies in Bulawayo for violating the country’s environmental laws between January and October.
The main culprits are companies that illegally sell gas. EMA Bulawayo provincial manager Mr Decent Ndlovu said during the first 10 months of the year, they issued tickets to 29 companies for selling and storing hazardous substances without licences. He said 10 other companies were fined for transporting cyanide without licences while 11 others were fined for various other environment-related crimes. The fines ranged between $20 and $5 000.
“We’re having problems with LP gas dealers that have sprouted across the city. Most of these people are selling the gas without licences. We’ve also had companies selling cyanide without licences. So the 29 tickets that we issued companies constituted mostly those who were selling gas and cyanide,” he said. Mr Ndlovu said the environmental watchdog has also referred to court some companies that were found selling cyanide. He said the country tightened the handling of cyanide after it was used in poisoning elephants in 2013.
“Cyanide is very dangerous and has been used in killing animals and companies need to keep traceable records so that we know where the cyanide went,” Mr Ndlovu said — @nqotshili.
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