News / Local
Chiwenga calls on youths to lead clean-ups
05 Mar 2022 at 08:16hrs | Views
VICE-PRESIDENT Constantino Chiwenga yesterday called on all citizens, particularly youths, to participate in the National Environment Clean-Up campaign to help transform environs in urban areas in line with Vision 2030.
Leading this month's provincial clean up exercise in Bulawayo, VP Chiwenga, said the campaign is envisaged to transform the country's cities and towns into clean entities in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner.
He implored youths to take a lead through active participation in the campaign.
President Mnangagwa recently launched the National Youth Presidential Clean-up campaign under the banner, ‘listening to the young voices' in recognition of the country's young generation.
"The transformation of our cities and towns will require the active participation of the nation's youths. It is in the youths' hands that we entrust our future, and we are saying the campaign is envisaged to transform our environs through the active participation of the youths in our communities," said Vice-President Chiwenga.
"Let us also take this opportunity to appreciate the youth groups and health clubs that have been religiously participating in the clean-up campaign even outside the designated first Friday of every month."
VP Chiwenga urged youths to also participate in recycling activities for environmental restoration and income generation.
"There lies tremendous opportunity for the youth to participate in the economy through recycling initiatives. I, therefore, call upon local authorities, non-governmental organisations and development partners to assist youths that approach them with a view to engaging in recycling activities," he said.
"As a country, we take pride in the wealth of the capacity entrenched in our young people who remain the future leaders of this country. I want to call upon all our young people to find a niche in such futuristic programmes such as the National Clean-ups."
VP Chiwenga said local authorities should also establish public private partnerships with progressive corporates to ensure that waste management challenges are holistically and sustainably dealt with.
"May I also encourage the city fathers and mothers to prioritise waste management and invest in refuse collection equipment to ensure that waste collection is done timeously to avoid illegal waste disposal in undesignated areas by residents due to delays in waste collection," he said.
"Our vision as a nation is to be an empowered and prosperous upper-middle income society by 2030. As such, all sectors of the economy should find suitable position in this vision by participating in sustainable management of waste."
VP Chiwenga said Vision 2030 dovetails well with the Global Agenda on promoting a green economy where sustainable consumption and production remains the cornerstone of the global development agenda.
"Sustainable consumption requires everyone in towns and rural service centres to be responsible for their actions and make the right choices, which are environmentally friendly and sound. Such choices will surely improve the ecological footprints, including waste management," he said.
The Vice-President challenged councils to ensure that all communities have access to basic recycling infrastructure such as refuse bins, water transfer stations and waste management committees to promote recycling and other best practices in waste management.
He said littering and creation of illegal dumps will not be tolerated in modern cities and towns hence Government's zero tolerance to littering.
The Vice-President commended BCC for working with communities in waste disposal through using community trucks for refuse collection and community groups in street sweeping.
In Matabeleland North, Zanu-PF Vice President Kembo Mohadi led the clean-up exercise which took place in Hwange.
The event was initially meant to take place in Binga but was moved to Hwange where it was jointly conducted with the Africa Environment Day Commemorations, held annually on 3 March.
Mohadi led scores of people who included Hwange Teachers' College students, pupils from various schools, civil servants and workers from various companies, representatives of Government departments, and Zanu-PF members to clean around the long-distance bus terminus, flea market and Number 1 where he and Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Richard Moyo planted trees.
Addressing the crowd at Number 1 Old Grounds, Mohadi said the past 20 years have taught Zimbabweans a lesson that the opposition, which he said has caused a serious rundown of municipalities, has nothing to offer.
"At the political front it is unfortunate that the advent of the opposition political party in our urban municipalities has had significant negative impact on our environment.
Our urban centres are an eyesore. Solid waste and litter in urban centres is eating away the beauty that our urban centres once carried. The opposition led municipal councils have failed to prioritise the importance of having a clean environment for the benefit of our people. You have the power to avoid this by voting them out of the administration of cities," he said.
"We thought as young blood they would do better but they have run down our municipalities for the past 20 years. If they can't run a city, how can they run a country?"
He commended people from Hwange and the whole province for taking heed of the clean-up exercise, saying this is the kind of patriotism that is needed towards fulfilling Vision 2030.
Mohadi challenged institutions and companies to adopt zones which they can regularly clean in their areas of operation.
Minister Moyo reiterated the call for companies to adopt certain areas especially along the highways for clean-ups.
"We are proud of the improvement in cleanliness in our province as the tourism hub of the country. We urge each company to adopt a section of the highway and clean that portion so that our environment remains clean," he said.
Chief Shana of Hwange echoed the call for cleanliness saying he and his colleagues in the traditional leadership structures will ensure members of the community keep the environment clean.
In the Midlands province, the cleanup campaign was held at Mkoba 6 shopping centre.
Taking part were Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube, the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Midlands province Larry Mavima and Zanu-PF Central Committee Member Engineer Daniel Mackenzie Ncube.
In his address, Minister Mavima said the Midlands province is playing its part in contributing to the national cause.
He commended Gweru City Council (GCC) for setting up waste management infrastructure which he said is a sign that the local authority is committed to keeping its environment clean.
"I would like to commend Gweru City Council for the effort they are making in keeping the City of Progress clean. Towards the end of last year, I officiated the commissioning of 6 skip bins and 13 drum bins at the Gweru civic center. Setting up such waste management infrastructure is a sign that the local authority is committed to keeping our environment clean," said Minister Mavima.
In Matabeleland South, the main clean-up was at Spitzkop Shopping Centre with the Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Abednico Ncube presiding over event.
Leading this month's provincial clean up exercise in Bulawayo, VP Chiwenga, said the campaign is envisaged to transform the country's cities and towns into clean entities in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner.
He implored youths to take a lead through active participation in the campaign.
President Mnangagwa recently launched the National Youth Presidential Clean-up campaign under the banner, ‘listening to the young voices' in recognition of the country's young generation.
"The transformation of our cities and towns will require the active participation of the nation's youths. It is in the youths' hands that we entrust our future, and we are saying the campaign is envisaged to transform our environs through the active participation of the youths in our communities," said Vice-President Chiwenga.
"Let us also take this opportunity to appreciate the youth groups and health clubs that have been religiously participating in the clean-up campaign even outside the designated first Friday of every month."
VP Chiwenga urged youths to also participate in recycling activities for environmental restoration and income generation.
"There lies tremendous opportunity for the youth to participate in the economy through recycling initiatives. I, therefore, call upon local authorities, non-governmental organisations and development partners to assist youths that approach them with a view to engaging in recycling activities," he said.
"As a country, we take pride in the wealth of the capacity entrenched in our young people who remain the future leaders of this country. I want to call upon all our young people to find a niche in such futuristic programmes such as the National Clean-ups."
VP Chiwenga said local authorities should also establish public private partnerships with progressive corporates to ensure that waste management challenges are holistically and sustainably dealt with.
"May I also encourage the city fathers and mothers to prioritise waste management and invest in refuse collection equipment to ensure that waste collection is done timeously to avoid illegal waste disposal in undesignated areas by residents due to delays in waste collection," he said.
"Our vision as a nation is to be an empowered and prosperous upper-middle income society by 2030. As such, all sectors of the economy should find suitable position in this vision by participating in sustainable management of waste."
VP Chiwenga said Vision 2030 dovetails well with the Global Agenda on promoting a green economy where sustainable consumption and production remains the cornerstone of the global development agenda.
"Sustainable consumption requires everyone in towns and rural service centres to be responsible for their actions and make the right choices, which are environmentally friendly and sound. Such choices will surely improve the ecological footprints, including waste management," he said.
The Vice-President challenged councils to ensure that all communities have access to basic recycling infrastructure such as refuse bins, water transfer stations and waste management committees to promote recycling and other best practices in waste management.
He said littering and creation of illegal dumps will not be tolerated in modern cities and towns hence Government's zero tolerance to littering.
The Vice-President commended BCC for working with communities in waste disposal through using community trucks for refuse collection and community groups in street sweeping.
The event was initially meant to take place in Binga but was moved to Hwange where it was jointly conducted with the Africa Environment Day Commemorations, held annually on 3 March.
Mohadi led scores of people who included Hwange Teachers' College students, pupils from various schools, civil servants and workers from various companies, representatives of Government departments, and Zanu-PF members to clean around the long-distance bus terminus, flea market and Number 1 where he and Matabeleland North Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Richard Moyo planted trees.
Addressing the crowd at Number 1 Old Grounds, Mohadi said the past 20 years have taught Zimbabweans a lesson that the opposition, which he said has caused a serious rundown of municipalities, has nothing to offer.
"At the political front it is unfortunate that the advent of the opposition political party in our urban municipalities has had significant negative impact on our environment.
Our urban centres are an eyesore. Solid waste and litter in urban centres is eating away the beauty that our urban centres once carried. The opposition led municipal councils have failed to prioritise the importance of having a clean environment for the benefit of our people. You have the power to avoid this by voting them out of the administration of cities," he said.
"We thought as young blood they would do better but they have run down our municipalities for the past 20 years. If they can't run a city, how can they run a country?"
He commended people from Hwange and the whole province for taking heed of the clean-up exercise, saying this is the kind of patriotism that is needed towards fulfilling Vision 2030.
Mohadi challenged institutions and companies to adopt zones which they can regularly clean in their areas of operation.
Minister Moyo reiterated the call for companies to adopt certain areas especially along the highways for clean-ups.
"We are proud of the improvement in cleanliness in our province as the tourism hub of the country. We urge each company to adopt a section of the highway and clean that portion so that our environment remains clean," he said.
Chief Shana of Hwange echoed the call for cleanliness saying he and his colleagues in the traditional leadership structures will ensure members of the community keep the environment clean.
In the Midlands province, the cleanup campaign was held at Mkoba 6 shopping centre.
Taking part were Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube, the Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution for Midlands province Larry Mavima and Zanu-PF Central Committee Member Engineer Daniel Mackenzie Ncube.
In his address, Minister Mavima said the Midlands province is playing its part in contributing to the national cause.
He commended Gweru City Council (GCC) for setting up waste management infrastructure which he said is a sign that the local authority is committed to keeping its environment clean.
"I would like to commend Gweru City Council for the effort they are making in keeping the City of Progress clean. Towards the end of last year, I officiated the commissioning of 6 skip bins and 13 drum bins at the Gweru civic center. Setting up such waste management infrastructure is a sign that the local authority is committed to keeping our environment clean," said Minister Mavima.
In Matabeleland South, the main clean-up was at Spitzkop Shopping Centre with the Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Abednico Ncube presiding over event.
Source - The Chronicle
