Bulawayo councillors are advocating for the naming and shaming of individuals who litter the environment by dumping garbage in undesignated areas.
This proposal was discussed during the latest full council meeting, as outlined in the Health, Housing, and Education Committee report. Council members deliberated on strategies to control littering in the city.
Ward 10 Councillor Khalazani Ndlovu suggested naming and shaming illegal litter dumpers as one of the strategies to address the issue.
The meeting minutes stated, “Councillor K Ndlovu proposed some strategies that could be considered to reduce illegal dumping and littering in the city. These included naming and shaming of all culprits in all wards through social media, growing plants at areas being abused as illegal dumping sites, leasing out land used as illegal dumping sites, and provision of skip-bins in high refuse generation areas.”
Ward 2 councillor Adrian Moyo supported the naming and shaming of culprits and suggested additional educational campaigns to prevent litter dumping.
“More educational campaigns should be done to stop illegal dumping. By-law enforcement and heavy fines should be charged. ‘No dumping’ signs have been placed in various illegal dumpsites before. In some cases, illegal refuse dumpers had avoided those areas and created new areas in the vicinity. With the aid of social media, naming and shaming was the next possible route which could be used to stop illegal dumping,” the minutes read.
The chairperson of the Committee, Councillor Ntombizodwa Khumalo, also proposed erecting “No Dumping” signages in areas prone to abuse.
“Cllr N. Khumalmalo said in her ward, residents had volunteered to donate materials for the manufacturing of ‘NO DUMPING’ signposts. Community sweepers also complained about the non-enforcement of relevant by-laws which address refuse piles and illegal dumps. She called on neighbourhood watch Committees to enforce some of Council by-laws during their patrols.”
