20 May 2019

Collaboration between the community and the private sector is vital in keeping Maun tidy and attractive, says SKL Group of Companies manager, Mr Moemedi Rannoba.

He said the upkeep of the environment was important as Maun was the gateway to one of the best wildlife experiences.

Speaking during a clean-up campaign organised by Seduza Service Providers recently, Mr Rannoba thanked the company for promoting a clean environment, saying it would attract more tourists. Seduza also donated blankets to one of the needy persons in Maun.

Mr Rannoba said the initiative was impressive as the company was owned by a young person who showed visionary leadership by encouraging the community to keep their environment tidy at all times.

He revealed that his company also partaked in promoting a clean environment, citing a recent event where they collaborated with the Matlapana community to embark on a clean-up of the Thamalakane River.

In addition, he said their company had camps in a sensitive area in the Okavango Delta, and that they were committed to ensuring that the area was always clean and tidy as safari companies survived in healthy environments.

SKL is a safari company that operates public camping grounds in Botswana’s prime national parks and within Chobe National Park. It has campsites in Savuti, Linyanti and Khwai, which are known for excellent game and offered good sightings throughout the year.

Mr Rannoba urged the community to address the challenge of indiscriminate littering and to understand the importance of keeping the environment clean, adding that working as a team made a huge difference.

He said SKL has interest in supporting community initiatives such as clean-up campaigns and called on them to engage private companies.

“We have encouraged the Matlapana community to always keep their environment clean and we provide a vehicle to take litter to the landfill,” he added.

Chief public health officer, Ms Bosiela Segogo explained that the district leadership was concerned about the untidiness of the village, noting that during cleanliness competitions, Maun always came last despite being a tourism hub.

The competitions are aimed to encourage communities to take responsibility of keeping the environment clean.

Ms Segogo stressed the need for the community to come up with strategies to keep their village clean. She said recently the leadership met to discuss how best they could make the village more attractive and tidy.

She appreciated that some residents did make efforts to clean but expressed concern that some continued to throw litter everywhere, including undeveloped plots and advised them to stop the practice.

Ms Segogo also advised residents to start cleaning at their homes and to extend to their surroundings, advising them to use disused baths, buckets and drums to keep the litter.

Maun residents were also appraised about the council initiative dubbed ‘Total waste collection,’ which aimed to collect litter in every household.

They learnt that the council has engaged private companies to implement the initiative and that in their ward litter was collected every Monday whether residents had paid or not.

Ms Segogo also encouraged residents to pay the P10 monthly litter collection fee.

Seduza company director, Mr Sedumedi Sedumedi said they found it fit to play a role towards community activities as they were all working towards people living a healthy and dignified life.

As part of their corporate social responsibility, he said they organised a clean-up campaign in the area they operated in and extended a helping hand to one needy person to demonstrate love and compassion.

“We want the community to appreciate that we are not into business only, but we also care about their welfare. We also want them to revive the spirit of giving and to reduce dependency on government assistance,” he added.

Mr Sedumedi said the clean-up campaign marked the beginning of their partnership with the Botshabelo community towards the development of their ward, noting that more projects were in the pipeline. ENDS