Africa-Press – Botswana. Embracing a collective responsibility towards waste management has the potential to transform environments and promote tourism, Kgosi Malope II of Bangwaketse has said.
Speaking at the launch of the 100 Days to a Beautiful and Clean Jwaneng campaign on November 24, Kgosi Malope II noted that effective waste management practices did not only contribute towards enhancing the aesthetic appearance but also had economic and social value attached for the benefit of the communities.
He implored communities to find ways to transform waste into valuable resources, by using mechanisms such as recycling to create employment opportunities.
“As citizens and members of the community we are tasked with the mandate to ensure we contribute towards protecting and conserving the environment so as to maximise on promoting investment opportunities and to derive maximum benefits from the country’s natural and renewable resources, including waste,” he said.
He said the initiative, which is a collaboration between Jwaneng Town Council and Jwaneng Mine, resonated with the government’s ongoing mindset change campaign and extensively with the global call to conserve natural resources and derive economic value from them.
However, he said there was a need for sustainable utilisation of such resources to reduce negative impact on the environment and ultimately climate change.
He applauded the two partners and their stakeholders for coming up with an initiative that would go a long way in turning their township into a vibrant and environmentally sustainable place, while at the same time attracting tourists.
He called on the communities to embrace this initiative and take advantage of the potential opportunities created by the Trans-Kalahari Highway.
“I implore all of us here today to ensure that this portion of the Trans-Kalahari Highway leverages its tourism potential through this initiative. From Lobatse, Kanye, Jwaneng, Mabutsane right through to Kang, let us be known for the beauty and sparkle of our communities,” he said.
The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Ms Gabatlotlane Mogapi commended Jwaneng Town Council, Jwaneng Mine and their business partners for creating an opportunity for the communities to introspect and strategise on how they could re-build the image of Jwaneng as a home to the country’s economic mainstay.
She underscored the need to equally share the responsibility of preserving the town as much as there was an equitable share of resources for development.
“This is important for us to take stock of ourselves, and all our strategies and interventions and identify commitment gaps in our concerted efforts to truly transform our nation and to ensure that everyone participates in the redefining, reshaping and realigning our efforts, particularly around waste management and environmental protection,” she noted.
She was optimistic that such collaborative efforts, which had robust and clear engagement plans, would bear positive results and result in waste value chains that created employment and economic opportunities for the communities.
She noted that it also called for identifying challenges that hindered the sustainability of programmes, and coming up with new methods of implementing policies and programmes.
For his part, Jwaneng Mine general manager, Mr Koolatotse Koolatotse said the community had taken a stand to commit to transforming Jwaneng into the cleanest town in Botswana in the next 100 days.
He said such an initiative was needed to improve the image of Jwaneng to appeal to tourists and investors.
The commitment to the transformation, he said was driven through collective responsibility by all stakeholders.
“We will clean Jwaneng with or without money, with or without diamond sales,” he noted.
Also, he said the initiative, which was driven by the national reset agenda principle, was aligned with the country’s Vision 2036 aspirations for sustainable development and environment, among others.
He noted that the environment was the only resource that could be preserved for future benefit.
Additionally, Mr Koolatotse said the use of modern technology, such as drones, would improve existing systems deployed towards implementing waste management programmes.
He also called on the communities to take advantage of the value chain opportunities for economic benefit.
“We want you to come up with initiatives to convert waste into some form of energy, fertilizers, grey water, among other opportunities. We need to teach our people that this is not dirty water which cannot be used in the garden, hence the need for mindset change,” he said.
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