02 Sep 2019

Debswana Jwaneng mine, in conjunction with its contracting partners and Mabutsane Sub-district, embarked on a clean-up campaign at Sese. 

Speaking at the event, the mine’s corporate affairs specialist, Mr Rebaone Tswiio said the campaign came after concerns about the cleanliness of the village. 

He said Debswana was concerned about the impact that the mine and its partners had in surrounding villages, hence in 2017, they did a socio-economic impact assessment. 

“In Sese, we then formed the community committee after the recommendations of the assessment, and one of the aims of the committee was to monitor the state of the mine’s impact in the village and report to us so we see how we can help,” he said. 

Mr Tswiio said the clean-up campaign was just one of the activities that were recommended by the committee, stressing that the mine does not desire to leave the areas around it negatively impacted at the end of its lifespan. 

“Our wish is to leave the areas better off than we found them, at least where we found them. 

We have an interest in Sese because most of our employees and those of our mining contractors are accommodated here, so they contribute to the impact in the village such as littering, therefore it is our responsibility to clean up,” he said. 

Mr Tswiio also implored companies that do business with Debswana to ensure their employees behave well so as to avoid tarnishing the reputation of the company. 

Mabutsane Sub-district Environmental Health Officer, Ms Melicah Wadingalo applauded Debswana and its partners’ efforts as well as the involvement of the members of the community in the clean up exercise. 

She said cleaning up was the primary responsibility of the council and that whenever volunteerism comes in, it helps the council save some funds to use on other needs.

Ms Wadingalo also commended Debswana for taking the responsibility of correcting where they have negatively impacted. 

She also noted that Sese was among the dirtiest villages in the sub-district because residents flout refuse bye-laws, such as the use of refuse bins in every household. 

“Waste is mostly generated in households, but because of shortage of refuse bins in households, this litter is thrown elsewhere,” Ms Wadingalo said.

She also advised that such clean-up campaigns should be coupled with education to teach people about the dangers of littering, which she said can be done through such initiatives as implementation of Tripple R (reduce, recycle, reuse) to make a living. 

For her part, Sese community committee secretary, Ms Ketsile Malefo also appreciated the good working relations between her village and Debswana and its contracting companies, saying they had always been quick to act on concerns and recommendations by her committee. 

She said Debswana had provided the village with refuse bins that would soon be distributed across the village for the public to use, a gesture that she said would hopefully address the challenge of littering. BOPA