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Tendai Rupapa in MVUMA
THE wanton burning of forests and indiscriminate cutting down of trees in most communities must end for the good of the nation, patron of the Environment, First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa has said.
Speaking after joining hundreds of Mvuma residents in cleaning up the small mining town as part of the National Clean-Up campaign yesterday, the First Lady said it was incumbent upon every citizen to play a leading role in environmental conservation.
She also held a colourful interactive session with residents where she raised her concerns over veld fires.
The First Lady also urged the community and schoolchildren to participate fully in cleaning up their surroundings regularly to inculcate the spirit of cleanliness.
“Each day you must clean up the home so that when visitors come, they find the place clean.
“When you go to school you must again ensure that the school is clean. This is an issue we shall remain with here in our country, Zimbabwe. I was happy to see that the marketplace where we swept was clean and for that I praise the ladies and men who are working there. I was grateful to find the marketplace clean because that is the place that gives you a first impression of the town,” she said.
“I hope this is how you live each day and it was not done because you heard I was coming here. When diseases come, they affect us all,” she said.
“I was baffled by the burning of forests and indiscriminate cutting down of trees. It is not ghosts that are burning the forests. It’s someone who is doing this, tisu isu vanhu tiri kupisa masango. I do not know what it is that you will be burning these windy days? Would someone tell me what it is that we are destroying when we start fires?”
A discussant said: “If we burn our forests, we will destroy many things including our crops and animal species that we want to learn about with regards to the environment,” she said.
Contributing to the subject, a young boy said: “If you burn the pastures, cattle will not have food and all the other domestic animals.”
The gathering was left in stitches by a woman who spoke with a high-pitched voice saying: “This causes soil erosion, rivers will be silted, gullies will form and even roads will be closed because of the indiscriminate cutting down of trees. Trees are of great importance. If trees are there, we get oxygen while we breathe carbon dioxide. So, if we cut down trees, we would have destroyed the carbon dioxide,” she said.
Another discussant said nothing can thrive inside fires.
“We cannot live inside fires. Where there is no fire that is where people thrive. All that sustains life cannot thrive where there is fire, yes we need fire but pane pausingadiwe moto. There are reports of houses being burnt while people are sleeping inside resulting in their deaths due to these veld fires,” he said.
The First Lady weighed in saying good environmental conservation practices bided well for the country.
“This is what I am here for so that we keep on cleaning up and cleaning the environment and teaching our children to practice good hygiene practices. That is why we had children cleaning with us so that they learn,” she said amid wild cheers from the gathering.
President Mnangagwa declared the first Friday of every month National Clean-up Day.
Mvuma residents were awestruck by the First Lady’s hard work and hands-on approach in cleaning the Shopping centre which has a bus terminus, shops, eateries and a vegetable market.
“Thank you so much. I am glad your place is clean. I am sure you do not just wait for the clean-up day alone, but maintain smartness every day. Who wants me to visit her home?” she said as the residents all wanted her to visit their homes.
“If a home is clean things will go in a positive direction because your mind too will be clean,” the First Lady said to applause.
EMA director Mr Steady Kangata said his organisation was grateful for the assistance it receives from the First Lady from time to time.
“As EMA we are very grateful because of the support that we always get from the First Lady who happens to be the patron of the environment. Since the inception of the National Clean-up Campaign, she has been with us through thick and thin. We have covered a lot of areas both in the rural areas and in the urban areas.
“The support is so amazing to an extent that the level of participation has surged. We have also had a lot of recycling initiatives that the First Lady is leading with the youths as well as women so we are very grateful as EMA for that. The clean up campaign has gone beyond the broom,” he said.
Mr Kangata paid tribute to the First Lady for promoting recycling and sound waste management practices.
“We are also happy that people have grasped the separation of waste at source where you have various waste streams on their own. You have paper, you have glass, you have plastic bottles on their own and so far we have 45 recycling companies that are operating at a commercial basis simply because of this clean-up campaign which has opened up and filled the entrepreneurial gap that used to exist and of note we are so grateful that in Zvimba District we have a large paper mill, a plant that is being constructed and it’s going to be commissioned this year by December and it’s going to take about 100 tonnes of cardboard box every month so it means 100 tonnes everyday. Meaning for the whole month it will mop up about 3000 tonnes of paper.
That also ties very well with the global thrust pertaining to a secular economy were nothing should be called waste but we need to ensure that we get a niche and we repurpose all the waste that we generate and that also ties very well with vision 2030 were we get to a point where people have money in the pocket, food on the table but all that done in a very clean, safe and healthy environment.
“It’s through these efforts that the First Lady is supporting and leading every month in terms of the clean-up campaign and in-between the months, each time she gets an opportunity, she always mainstreams environmental issues. This clean-up campaign is a wow to us because of the participation and we are also seeing behaviour change in certain sectors so the continued clean- up will get the desired results that we so wish for as a country,” he said.
Mvuma residents applauded the First Lady and thanked her for the visit and cleaning their area.
Mr Fadzai Mulimbo, a resident, expressed gratitude to the First Lady for her educative interventions.
“I wish to thank the First Lady who teaches us to protect our health and environment. I thank her for coming here to teach us how to keep the environment clean. I also want my wife to tap from the teachings we received from Amai,” he said.
Mr Mulimbo’s views were echoed by Mrs Tsitsi Banda, of ward 40.
“I wish to thank our mother the First Lady for the love that she has extended to us today here in Mvuma with the issue of preserving health, to pick litter and stay in a clean environment. We thank you Amai as ambassador for health and patron of the environment. We now know how to preserve our environment clean because nhasi tadzidziswa zvizhinji naAmai. Today the First Lady has shown us the correct path and we encourage everyone to pick litter. We ask for litter bins so that we can keep the environment clean,” she said.
Mrs Elizabeth Muchibwa, who works at the shopping centre, was also grateful to the mother of the nation for her teachings.
“We thank our Mother Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa who has come to Mvuma which has shops, markets and eateries. Our mother has come to be with us here today and we cleaned alongside her. There is no mother with a heart similar to hers who wants her children to prosper and stay in a clean environment keeping diseases at bay. All our workspaces were cleaned today because of Amai who is a loving mother. She is eager to preserve the health of the children of Zimbabwe. Our President declared the first Friday of every month a clean-up day. Our mother teaches us to clean our workspaces all the time so that customers find the place clean. Dirty and unkempt working spaces expose people to diseases like diarrhoea,” she said.
Online Reporter