Online Reporter
Michelle Musandinyoze
Three municipal police officers from Bulawayo City Council (BCC) were attacked on Wednesday while conducting a cleanup operation on 5th Avenue in the Central Business District, resulting in one officer being severely injured.
This was revealed by Bulawayo mayor, Councillor David Coltart, during a donation of 50 bins by Altcom at Large City Hall in Bulawayo.
“One of our municipal police officers was severely injured trying to implement the rule of law and trying to clean up our city and that is unacceptable. If we want to take our city forward and have a vision for it becoming clean, healthy, attractive for investment and provide formal employment to those who are currently in informal employment, then we have to restore order,” he said.
“And we want law enforcement agencies to do whatever they can to identify the culprits and to bring them to book,” he added.
Mayor Coltart called on the public to complement the council’s efforts to help Bulawayo reach smart city status by shunning the illegal dumping carried out by construction companies, calling the act unacceptable.
“It needs to end. Can you imagine, as we seek to promote tourism in this city and lure other people who love our culture and our traditions to visit the city and this nation’s most significant historical sites,” he said.
He urged citizens to emulate countries such as Japan, where people take great care of their surroundings by avoiding littering.
“I recently went to Osaka to represent the city in Japan. It is a city of 18 million people, which makes the general population in the City of Osaka more than people in the whole of Zimbabwe. I did not see in the five days I was there a single bin in the city but I also did not see a single plastic bottle or refuse on the ground and that is because the people are self-disciplined,” he said.
Mayor Coltart expressed gratitude for the generous donation of another 50 bins made this week, following a donation of 60 refuse bins worth US$6,900 from a city company, Masters Paint and Hardware, last week.
