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Leonard Ncube, Online Reporter
LITTERBUGS, both individual and organisational, should think twice before carelessly dumping litter in Victoria Falls as the city’s waste management task force is stopping at nothing to ticket anyone that pollutes the environment.
Various stakeholders in the resort city formed the Pristine Victoria Falls Society (PVFS) initiative in October 2021 where each stakeholder or individual adopted a street or section of the city which they regularly clean.
Through the PVFS, the task force was formed last month comprising Environmental Management Authority (EMA), Victoria Falls City Council, and police as lead agents to enforce cleanliness in the city.
Through these efforts, an average of 5 000 bags of garbage are collected from the streets every month and the task force has issued more than 60 tickets to litterbugs in its first month.
The efforts augur well with Victoria Falls City Council’s green city drive which is also in line with the green destination strategy being pursued.
Updating stakeholders, the task force coordinator Mr Douglas Musiringofa said 60 tickets had been issued in six weeks.
He said littering was decreasing.
“Generally, we are seeing a decrease in the number of illegal dumping areas around the city. This is because of the fines and hopefully, this continues. We are hoping to set up cages which could be helpful in storing waste before the council collects it.
“We are trying our best to run fundraising initiatives to achieve this goal. Our biggest challenge is that we have two waste removal trucks in the city and one is old and constantly breaking down. This results in inefficient waste collection systems,” said Mr Musiringofa.
He implored the local authority to address the issue of refuse collection because currently litter bags are collected and placed at strategic points but scavengers such as baboons, hyenas, and dogs scatter the dirt as they scavenge for food.
Mr Musiringofa also said weekly refuse collection inhigh-density suburbs was not enough as waste accumulates and pollutes the environment.
Mr Musiringofa said after issuing out tickets, the task force follows up to make sure the offenders own up although some abscond.
During the task force raids, police issue spot fines to litterbugs and payment at council and EMA offices s expected within seven working days.
“So in the public health department in the council hands over ticketing books to municipal police who make follow-ups. EMA follows up through the issuing officers while the police have spot fines,” he said.
All clean-up efforts are in keeping with the National Clean-Up Campaign introduced by President Mnangagwa a few years ago, for every citizen to clean their surroundings regularly, and join as the nation on the first Friday of every month.
Victoria Falls stakeholders embraced the idea and expanded it to a daily routine for the sole purpose of keeping the streets and environment clean to promote tourism and prevent an outbreak of diseases.
-@ncubeleon
Online Reporter