The Sunday News
Mthabisi Tshuma, Sunday News Reporter
CARITAS Zimbabwe has expressed its commitment to join forces with other environment advocates, in a bid to help the City of Bulawayo regain its status as the country’s cleanest city.
Once praised as the country’s cleanest city, Bulawayo has of late been a “dungeon of filth” as residents willy-nilly dump waste anywhere.
The city council on its part has been blamed for failing to up its game in waste collection in the Central Business District (CBD) and suburban areas.
Following this realisation, various environmentally conscious organisations such as Caritas Zimbabwe have taken the obligation to clean up the city.
Caritas Zimbabwe which carries out the social work of the Roman Catholic Church, has launched a yearly quarterly strategy for 2022 in availing garbage bins in the CBD’s dirty hotspots.
The development comes as the Bulawayo City Council is in the process of tightening the noose on littering and is to engage Government to impose deterrent fines on litter bugs.
In the past week, Caritas availed the first phase of garbage bins around the city with the first port of call being the bus terminus along Lobengula Street.
The first garbage bins donation was done alongside a clean-up exercise which sought to address waste management challenges that have risen and proven to be a sensitive thorn.
Speaking on the sidelines of the clean-up campaign and garbage bins donation, Archbishop Alex Thomas said stakeholders in the streets, mainly vendors, should be at the forefront in ensuring a clean city.
“Cleanliness is next to Godliness thus I would like to call upon stakeholders who ply their work in the streets mainly vendors to lead by example in ensuring a clean environment engulfed your workplaces.
“You have a role to play in educating the masses that pass through here every day and ensure they observe the set health precautions by ensuring the bins are utilised efficiently,” said Archbishop Thomas.
He implored the vendors to jealously safeguard the garbage bins from any vandalism.
One of the vendors who received a garbage bin next to her workplace, Mr Sinqobile Mathe praised the development, saying it was long overdue.
“On an honest note, our workplaces had turned to be pigsties mainly due to the fact of the shortage of garbage bins therefore the donation will go a long way in changing the face of our workplaces.
“As vendors we plead with other organisations to do the same so that we can reclaim the status of Bulawayo being viewed as one of the cleanest cities in the country,” said Mr Mathe.
Caritas Zimbabwe’s work unique is its ongoing presence in communities, before, during and after crisis situations as it empowers people to participate more fully in all matters affecting their lives, as well as advocates on their behalf at national and international forums. -@mthabisi_mthire
