21 Sep 2017

Chobe District Council held a clean-up campaign on Tuesday, including where the trucks in Kazungula queue while waiting to cross the Zambezi River as well as the border.

Due to the breakdown of the pantoon, the queue for trucks has been very long, leading to a lot of littering in the Kazungula area.

This has been a cause for concern to the Chobe District because it is the entry point to the tourist area.  

The council saw it fit to hold a campaign to tidy the area in order to reach out to the community and truck drivers to help keep the environment clean.

The campaign was the initiative of the council chairperson, councillor Aaron Chabaesele, who was recently in Sweden in relation to environmental issues and issues involving eco-tourism.  

His aim is to teach the community to take care of their environment and how to recycle.

“I started this campaign in order to alert and involve the community on how to keep our environment clean. I have even partnered with the Sweden council in this campaign, and I wish more youth could join this campaign and help us make it a success,” he said.

On issues affecting truck drivers, he stated that he understands that the place was not safe for them, especially at night. He noted that it was one of the reasons why they relieved themselves in paper bags.

Cllr Chabaesele said available toilets were also not enough to accommodate all of them.

“We are working round the clock to fix the issue and we are planning on bringing more toilets. Again, because there are no bins around this area, we are planning on getting skips and place them around,” said Cllr Chabaesele.

Some truck drivers also urged the council to help them so that they could keep the area clean, especially with more toilets and dustbins to dispose off their litter.

“We are not as untidy as this place makes us seem, it is just that we do not have the necessities to keep the environment clean,” said one of truck drivers from Zambia, Mr Mike Moyo. BOPA