Ministers get busy sweeping Harare’s streets

The Herald, December 12, 1980

THREE Government Ministers and two MPs yesterday stunned Salisbury’s lunch-hour shoppers when they took to the streets on a “lead by example” cleaning exercise.

Wearing the distinctive orange overalls of the city council’s cleaning department, the Minister of Local Government and Housing, Mr Eddison Zvobgo: his deputy, Mr Godfrey Chidyausiku; the Deputy Minister for Home Affairs, Mr Tarisai Ziyambi; and two ZANU (PF) MPs for Victoria, Mr Nelson Mawema and Mr Albert Taderera, “invaded the south-east shopping area of central Salisbury with hard brooms and shovels, sweeping rubbish from streets and pavements.

The Mayor, Councillor Jack Whiting, who was present during the exercise, remarked: “These are the kind of Ministers to have who promote the ‘keep-your-city-clean’ consciousness. The public are surely going to learn from their lesson.”

The ministers were joined by about 200 volunteers taken from outside the Manica Road headquarters of ZANU (PF) and Harare Musika. The council supplied garbage trucks, shovels, brooms and plastic refuse bags.

The area cleaned is the favourite selling ground for vegetable and fruit vendors. Before the ministers-cum-cleaners moved in, the streets and pavements were littered with mealie cobs, fruit peels and waste paper.

LESSONS FOR TODAY

It is always good for people in authority or in positions of leadership to take the lead when it comes to community initiatives such as clean-ups which are vital in terms of people’s well-being.
On December 5, 2018, President Mnangagwa took the lead in championing cleaning up of the country when he launched the National Clean-up Day at Takashinga Sports Club, Highfield in Harare. Since then every first Friday of each month is a National Clean-Up Day.
The onus of keeping our immediate environment clean does not rely solely on local authorities or the Government alone but on us the residents, who are responsible for the litter. As such, we need to do more to help ourselves by cleaning up our mess instead of waiting for others to clean it up for us.