Cephas Shava
MWENEZI – The Mwenezi Rural District Council (RDC) last week embarked on a district-wide whirlwind sensitisation campaign for proposed by-laws with the public expressing divergent views on the matter.
Many contributors said they fully acknowledged the intended purpose of the proposed by-laws especially those that seek to protect the environment from further harm but pointed out that awareness has always been inadequate.
Among other things, they said many environmental offences were fuelled by lack of knowledge of the regulations.
“As council, you should vigorously disseminate information concerning the contents of the by-laws so that everyone becomes fully informed. You should not just come and arrest people for violating the by-laws they are not aware of.
“Besides that, some departments are merely existing in name; since we were resettled in 2000, the department responsible for pegging contour ridges in our fields has never visited us,” said a participant from ward 16.
Contributors who live in areas close to the Masvingo – Beitbridge highway expressed concern over cross border buses which they accused of being among the worst offenders when it comes to littering.
They pointed out that they often wake up to the sight of piles of scattered garbage that would have been dumped in the night by cross border buses that stop at undesignated points for recess along the highway.
The by-law sensitisation programme, which saw an interactive two-way communication between the community and the RDC, were also supported by the Ministry of Health and Child Care.local
