Litter louts face $20 fine

GWANDA’S newly elected councillors are tightening screws on littering and have
already imposed deterrent fines for offenders.
A public notice released by the Town Clerk, Priscilla Nkala, states that anyone found
littering will be fined USD$20.
“Municipality of Gwanda hereby notifies its residents and stakeholders to keep and
maintain their surroundings clean at all times. The council strives to guarantee every
citizen the right to a clean environment that is not harmful to their health and
wellbeing,” reads part of the notice.
City council employees always clean the city roads and pavements in the morning
but at the end of the day their efforts go to waste because of litter bugs.
The local authority is sometimes blamed for promoting littering due to delays in
collecting garbage, particularly in residential areas.
The public notice also states that refuse collection in the residential areas is
conducted once a week and four times a week in the Central Business District
(CBD).
To buttress the issue of anti-littering, Gwanda Mayor, Councillor Thulani Moyo, said
efforts to keep the town clean were in progress.
“I humbly request maJahundas and well-wishers to kindly donate dust bins that will
be placed along the roads in CBD.
“I am working out to have big mines and business community to put bus stop sheds
at pickup and dropping off points at townships, where they will advertise their
products,” said Mayor Moyo.
Environmental Management Agency (EMA) spokesperson, Amkela Sidange, said
the littering laws are not deterrent enough, hence they are in the process of lobbying
Government for a legislation review to criminalise littering.
“At the moment we have started a review of our legislation because we have
observed that laws change with time in line with policy pronouncements that are
there.
“So as an agency, we have started on the issue of laws review and other factors that
are there, including the issue of criminalising littering.
“This means that littering will be a criminal offence, not just a punishable one,” said
Sidange.
“We impress on littering being made a criminal offence and this means it will get
attention from other law enforcement agencies so that at the end of the day anti-

littering does not become a task for EMA and local authorities, but all law
enforcement”
“Littering has various impacts, first and foremost it is an environmental nuisance and
can reduce the value of properties, secondly it causes environmental pollution where
we can have these dumpsites becoming health hazards, causing typhoid, cholera
and even malaria as mosquitoes can breed there.”