Precila Takabvirakare

Gutu-based Utsinda Christian College goes green as they join the rest of the world in celebrating International Day of forestry this week under the theme ‘Forests and sustainable production and consumption’.
International day of Forestry was proclaimed by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 2012 to raise awareness and celebrate the importance of all types of forests.
It encourages people from all walks of life to get involved in commemorative events that promote sustainable management of forests.
Speaking at the event, the District Forestry Extension Officer Wellington Moyo encouraged people to take good care of the forests because if they are destroyed, livelihoods are also destroyed.
“I encourage you to take good care of the forests that we have in our communities and stop deforestation. If we destroy forests we destroy livelihoods. There are a lot of species that are in these forests so let us keep them safe by planting more trees,” said Moyo.
He also added that people should keep the forests safe because humanity cannot live without them, a nation without trees is almost helpless.
Gutu District Schools Inspector (DSI) Ronald Muganhu also appreciated the move by the school saying trees need to be preserved well because people get a lot from them.
“I would like to thank the school and community for this event. Trees need to be preserved well because we get a lot from them. We get timber, food and even medicine from them, if you remove one tree you have to replace it by planting another. Animals rely on these trees, if are cut down they will not be able to survive,” he said.
He also challenged village heads to help in observing safety of trees by punishing those found guilty of cutting down the trees so that everyone understands their importance.
Around a total of 30 trees were planted at the school.

…As professional diver dies while searching for a juvenile, and another 7 died at the same spot

Beatific Gumbwanda

CHIREDZI- End of March 2022 marks exactly one month after the Members of the Police Sub Aqua Unit failed to retrieve body of a three year old toddler who allegedly drowned at a Pool at Chilonga bridge while one of their members floated dead after spending approximately 24 hours under water, missing, while searching for the toddler, raising eyebrows of the rumored Mermaid at the pool below the low lying Chilonga bridge.
A Mermaid is an aquatic creature with the upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish and they mostly appear in folklore of many cultures worldwide including the African culture.
The low-lying Chilonga bridge, which came as a makeshift after the Chipinda bridge was swept away by Cyclone Eline in 2000, marking exactly two decades without any action by the central government, has been a death trap over the years in the rainy season, but people have never gone missing for such a number of days as the three year toddler with a professional diver from the Buchwa Police Sub Aqua Unit failing to make it in such a perceived small pool.
In an interview with Chief Chilonga born David Ben indicated that this year’s tragedy has become worse as compared to the past years, calling for a cleansing ceremony at the bridge.
“This is worse as compared to what we used to know over the past years. I think there is need for a cleansing ceremony, asking our ancestors on the way forward. Though people usually went missing, they were later found after a few days but the toddler is still missing to date,” said Chief Chilonga.
He said there has never been a pool at that point before the low-lying bridge was constructed and it developed after the bridge was constructed.
“There was never such a pool before the bridge was constructed. It was a little up the stream, where one farmer once used it to irrigate his tobacco. There is no longer a pool at that point and we now have it at the bridge,” said Chief Chilonga.
Recently, a veterinary officer was swept away while trying to cross the partially flooded low-lying Chilonga Bridge with his motorbike before he failed to swim out of the pool and later found the next day being feasted on by crocodiles.
Previously, a member of the Chilonga Chieftainship, Tiyani Lisenga survived death by a whisker while two people died and a toddler who is still missing, who some villagers thought was taken by a mermaid.
Lisenga was driving a Toyota Hilux with ten people from Chiredzi heading to Chilonga Township, where he persisted to cross through the flooded low-lying bridge before slipping into the pool.
“We now have many unanswered questions pertaining this season’s accidents and this bridge in particular. People are just dying unanimously and a little juvenile is still missing. We do not know whether is still alive or dead as we now suspect there is a mermaid in this pool,” said one villager.
A member of the Zimbabwe National Army was also found the following day after he slipped into the pool while trying to cross the bridge hanging at the back of the truck while Chikombedzi Mission Hospital administrator also allegedly suffered the same fate, though his death was a bit debatable.
Chief Chilonga later pleaded for government intervention through construction of a bridge, which might not come anytime soon as there is no economic intrinsic value.

Thabiso Nxumalo

Masvingo City Council has said the Cambria Farm landfill will be operational from the end of May, easing the Runyararo West dumpsite which is currently overflowing with solid waste.
Speaking during a Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee tour in Masvingo on March 30, 2022, Town Clerk Engineer Edward Mukaratirwa said the first cell was 60 percent complete and that financial constraints were the reason for slow progress on the project that was set to be completed in November 2021.
“The landfill project is slacking on progress but we are now on 60 percent towards completing the first cell. Funding is our biggest challenge as we are currently using internal council resources.
“We have finished excavating the place and have taken on-board stakeholders such as Environmental Management Services (EMA) to assist through the environmental fund and are advising us all the way and have decided to adopt the Kadoma and Victoria Falls model landfill standards.
“We are projecting that our landfill will have a 30-year lifespan and the whole project for the first disposal cell will cost us ZWL $87 million,” said Eng Mukaratirwa.
He also said they are embarking on a project of selling garbage bins to residents and they are still at crossroads as to how best to roll out the exercise.
“We have so far bought 750 bins that we plan on reselling to residents but we are still considering if we must sell them per order or if we must supply to all residents and bill them.
“We are aware that some residents might misuse them for things like storing water and other purposes instead disposing garbage in them,” added Eng Mukaratirwa.
Cambria Farm landfill would lead to a marked shift from the USE OF OLD Runyararo West dumpsite which is posing a great health hazard to residents as waste is spilling to the residential area.