01 Mar 2018

Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Frans Van Der Westhuizen has called for public engagement  on waste management issues.  Speaking at a two-day Environmental Health Consultative Forum in Palapye on Wednesday, Mr Van Der Westhuizen said the public needed to be engaged so that they could  change their mindset and appreciate environmental issues. 

Mr Van der Westhuizen said councils spent more money  in refuse collection without putting in place strategies to transfer the cost to the public in line with the ‘polluter pays’ principle. 

He said the reactive spending coupled with insignificant cost recovery negatively impacted on the council budget, some of which  funds could have been allocated to  essential services.

He noted that government initiatives  such as engagement of  green scorpions under Ipelegeng and Law Enforcement officers had over the years lost momentum and failed to achieve intended results.

The asssistant minister said the  situation therefore required immediate resuscitation, otherwise the public would get used to lack of enforcement of the Waste Management Act and continue to pollute the environment.

Further, Mr Van Der Westhuizen  said his ministry  was fully alive to the challenges the councils were facing in providing sustainable waste management services.

Due to competing socio-economic priorities, government had been unable to provide for councils with management budget demand as proposed under NDP 10 and 11.

This, he said had resulted in councils not being able to replace old waste management fleet, maintain equipment, develop new waste management facilities and increase outsourcing budget. 

That alone, he said called for innovative ways of dealing with waste management including involvement of the private sector and the public at all levels.

He said if funds were availed for strategic waste management,  issues such as development of plans targeting behavioural change, councils would have  had achieved their goals. 

He noted that there was a need for councils to consider their current waste management practices, learn international best practices and change their current practices. 

“Benchmarking in other countries is good, as long as the people who go out for that purpose have something in mind that they want to achieve and put in practices.”

The assistant minister said  even though his ministry was faced with challenges, it was upon his staff to come up with initiatives and strategies by involving the public.

He commended some councils which continued to implement their initiatives on waste management such as Ghantsi District Council, which had won the country an international prize for a project on using waste management to alleviate poverty.

Mr Van der Westhuizen said his ministry depended on the staff for technical advice on issues of waste management and said, “the gathering of this kind is expected to come up with advice that can lead to implementation of sustainable waste management targeting mostly behavioural change, so that by 2036 this country will have communities that are aware of and take part in keeping Botswana clean.”

The senior environmental health officer from North West, Ms Grace Hikuama, explained that heir piloted project at Matlapana and Matsaudi in line with waste management was in  its second year since its inception.

She said the projects involved members of the community who collect refuse and sell to South Africa companies for recycling.

In addition,  Chief Health Officer, Mr Patrick Ongadile said there was need for the ministry to consider filling some posts, which were vital in terms of health education. 

He also said the council law enforcement was outdated and needed to be revised. BOPA