Clive Thabo Dube
The Bulawayo City Council (BCC) has held a meeting with local business people on the state of ‘cleanliness’ within the Metropolitan Province.
Speaking during this meeting, the president of the Business Association of Zimbabwe, Dr. Lucky Mlilo urged the city council and other stakeholders in the business community to prioritize the cleanliness of the city which was once touted as one of the cleanest urban areas in Africa but is now a haven for vendors and unregistered commuter omnibuses.
“The current system in which we have an environment day is not effective enough. We should take a leaf from Lagos in Nigeria which has a day called ‘The Environmental Sanitation Day’ in which shop owners are expected to clean up the environs of their businesses. If we were to copy this program which is mandatory, Bulawayo will definitely regain its ‘clean and Smart City’ status of old.”
“On the clean up day in Lagos, between the hours of 7 and 10am, the Central Business District (CBD) is on lock-down as the local authority, police and the army enforce the mandatory clean up exercise. None complying traders are fined US$500 or six months imprisonment.” Mlilo who is also a top Squash official on the continent added while addressing the gathering of about thirty (30) local business executives who all expressed concern at how the city’s health standards had fallen in recent month’s.
Other contributors pointed out how cities such as Windhoek in Namibia and Kigali in Rwanda have overtaken Bulawayo in terms of issues to do with cleanliness and environmental management.
In response, the Bulawayo city chamber secretary Sikhangezile Zhou acknowledged the need to implement these suggestions from local business people. However she said the places needing attention happen to be public spaces not necessarily areas around places of business.
“We do want people to clean the environs of their premises however what we are facing right now is that areas that are dirty are public places. We now consider giving business people free leases to pavements in front of their shop’s in order for captains of industry for commerce to help police the cleanliness of the city.” Sikhangezile Zhou said.