28 Apr 2019

Residents of Matobo have called on the Departments of Forestry and Environmental Health to put mechanisms in place to control phane harvesters in their area.

This they said during a kgotla meeting addressed by Nkange MP, Mr Edwin Batshu recently. 

A member of farmers’ committee, Mr Ngwili Mudaba said phane harvesters contaminated water at the dam as they bathed, cleaned the phane and left disposable nappies by the dam area.

Sharing similar sentiments was Ms Emily Matolela, who noted that phane harvesters posed danger as they exposed their livestock to measles. 

She said the area around the dam was contaminated adding that they did not know where to start in terms of clearing it for their own safety and that of their livestock.

Ms Matolela thus appealed to dikgosi of the affected areas of Goshwe, Magapatona and Matobo to work together and find the best solution. 

She also noted that it was imperative that for the Departments of Forestry and Environmental Health to come on board and ensure that health measures were in place.

She further stated that as most of the people harvesters were brought by business people, it was appropriate for such people to provide the harvesters with water and portable toilets.

When commenting of their MP’s updates, the residents said the Ministry of Basic Education should phase out pit latrines in primary schools. 

They noted that most of the schools in the area were still using pit latrines and the majority of them were over flowing, thus being a health hazard to the students and the community at large.

Furthermore, they complained about the time it took for schools to be maintained and where it had been done and in most cases it was substandard, raising questions of non-accountability and corrupt practices by those tasked to supervise the work.

They suggested that government, through Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development should consider engaging cleaners for the school toilets instead of assigning students to clean them. 

In response, Mr Batshu said the villages’ leadership, together with their village development committees should come together and put measures in place for phane harvesters to adhere to. 

He said the department of forestry should also do the monitoring during the time of harvesting.

Meanwhile, Mr Batshu implored farmers to monitor movement of their livestock so that they do not cross the border line because if they do, they would be killed to prevent Foot and Mouth Disease. 

He said it was impossible to have pickets along the whole fence to monitor movement, hence farmers should play their role. Ends