10 Sep 2013

Central District Council (CDC) chairperson, Mr Lesego Raditanka has appealed to councillors to discourage littering and illegal dumping of waste in their villages.

Officially opening the CDC full council meeting on September 9, Mr Raditanka said littering and illegal dumping of waste polluted the environment and negatively impacted on tourism.

He said it was upon every individual to take responsibility of keeping the environment clean adding that illegal disposal of waste in non-designated disposal areas in the district was worrisome. Cllr Raditanka said people had tendency of dumping black plastic bags by the roadside, bus stops and in the bush.

He however advised them to use designated waste disposal sites. He urged councillors to encourage people to register with the environmental health office for refuse collection service in their sub-districts.

The council chairperson called on councillors to speak with one voice against such practices and encourage communities to use available facilities properly, noting that street bins were not dumping sites and should be used for their intended purposes.

However, Mr Raditanka said in their efforts to curb littering and illegal dumping they had intensified public education, kept a watchful eye and strengthened enforcement of waste management act.

On other issues, he said their priority was to ensure that all sub-districts had some level of fire response capacity. Mahalapye and Tutume as the two largest sub-districts had been identified as priority sub districts, he added.

He explained that CDC received two fire engine pumpers from the Japanese government as a good gesture to support local authorities.

On training, he noted that CDC has just concluded a ten-week advanced firefighting and hazardous material course involving 61 fire fighters from eight district councils. Ends