The dirtiest town in Matabeleland South is .....

BEITBRIDGE has been named the dirtiest town in Matabeleland South Province by the Environmental Management Authority (EMA).

The town takes over from Maphisa which was named the dirtiest last year.

The agency attributed Beitbridge's uncleanliness to high movement of people.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Africa Environment Day Commemorations in Plumtree, Environmental Education and Publicity Officer for Matabeleland

South Province, Mrs Sithembokuhle Moyo, said a number of residential areas in Beitbridge were not serviced which forced people to use bushes to relieve themselves.

She said Plumtree Town was the most improved town.

"Towns and districts within the province have made significant progress in maintaining hygiene but our biggest challenge is Beitbridge. The town houses the busiest border in Southern Africa and this means that there are a lot of people passing through the town.

"As a result there is a lot of littering and improper dumping of waste. A lot of residential areas in Beitbridge are not serviced which means people relieve themselves in bushes," she said.

Mrs Moyo said efforts were underway to educate residents from the border town and other districts on the importance of hygiene.

She said they were also monitoring local authorities to ensure that they had proper systems to manage waste.

Plumtree Town Council recently upgraded its sewer system following an instruction from the environment authority. This was after the town had been declared a red zone because of its poor sewer system.

Mrs Moyo said they had successfully managed to contain activities of illegal gold panners that had flocked to Ingwizi area in Mangwe District. She said EMA and other stakeholders had engaged miners from Mangwe District and urged them to regularise their operations.

"Our intervention in Ingwizi has yielded positive results. Illegal mining was a problem in Mangwe since 2012. We partnered with the local authority and other departments and educated miners.

"They have now formed cooperatives and have regularised their operations. They have erected perimeter fences around their mining areas, they are backfilling mining pits that are no longer in use and they have constructed ablution facilities," said Mrs Moyo.

She said illegal mining still remained a problem in Matobo, Gwanda and Umzingwane Districts. Mrs Moyo said efforts to engage miners in these areas had been fruitless. "Illegal mining is still a problem in the province and the hotspots are Nugget Mine in Matobo, Sun Yet Sen in Gwanda and Upper Ncema in Umzingwane. We are working with other law enforcement agencies to conduct collaborated raids.

"We have tried to educate them but illegal  miners flee each time we reach out to them as they know their activities are illegal. We want them to form cooperatives and register their operations," said Mrs Moyo.

She said illegal mining was detrimental to the environment.

This year's Africa Environment Day was held under the theme "Empowering communities through sustainable waste management".