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By James Muonwa, Mashonaland West Correspondent
FORMER state vice president Kembo Mohadi has lamented the unenviable status the country has earned over the years of being a “litter policing state.”
Mohadi, who is ruling party Zanu PF second secretary, rallied citizens to self-regulate and avoid polluting the environment.
“The days of having law enforcement agencies patrolling our streets and highways looking for litter bugs should be a thing of the past. As a people we should show our Ubuntu/Unhu by voluntarily self-regulating ourselves on a day-to-day basis,” said Mohadi.
He was speaking at Pfungwadzakanaka shopping centre in Chinhoyi Friday during the monthly national clean-up campaign.
“Let us exercise responsibility to avoid becoming a litter policing state by adopting self-regulating measures to try and curb the scourge of improper solid waste disposal.
“As a nation, Zimbabwe aspires litter free towns, litter free resorts, litter free ports of entry and most importantly, litter free highways and access roads.”
The business community and other stakeholders to adopt streets which they spruce up.
“I also challenge the business community, government agencies and communities to adopt areas and streets for cleaning. The same adopted areas can be greened through planting trees and lawns.”
“As a nation, let us speedily engage steps to reverse the destruction of wetlands, through littering and other contaminating behaviour. No one should think their individual efforts are too small to make a difference. When each of us
makes an effort to keep our environment clean and green, our efforts will collectively make a huge difference,” he said.
“Furthermore, the unprecedented changes in consumption and production patterns have resulted in increased plastic pollution.
“Again, the responsibility to ensure that such pollution does not choke our environment remains with all of us. It is every citizen’s duty to guard against the proliferation of waste in the areas of dwelling whether business or residence.”
The growth of the economy, he added, depends on the manner locals treat the environment.
“Our aspirations of achieving an upper middle income economy by year 2030 should never be appreciated in isolation of the cleanliness of our environment.”
The former state VP also called on councils to religiously and judiciously adhere to waste collection schedules in order to avoid forcing citizens to indiscriminately litter or dump waste.