KEEP SENWABARWANA CLEAN, GREEN AND HYGIENIC CAMPAIGN - Thuma Mina

KEEP SENWABARWANA CLEAN, GREEN AND HYGIENIC CAMPAIGN

                       REPORT
            Compiled by Dr. Tlou Setumu – May 2018

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1. BACKGROUND

   The Keep Senwabarwana Clean, Green and Hygienic Campaign (KSCGHC), as
     the concept title explicitly indicates, is the programme that is intended to keep the
     environment free of filth and garbage.
   The Campaign is intended to make communities aware of the dangers of living in
     filthy conditions, and highlighting the positive benefits of clean, green and hygienic
     environments.
   The KSCGHC is not intended only for the small, but fast-growing town of
     Senwabarwana, but also an awareness tool to all villages, small towns,
     municipalities in Limpopo, as well as the all the nine provinces of South Africa,
     where communities are choking and suffocating of piling, scattered and
     unremoved garbage and filth.

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2. FILTH AND GARBAGE EVERYWHERE

    There is a growing shocking tendency in our villages, small towns and cities, in
       which filth and garbage is strewn everywhere and it is piling up, unremoved.
    Garbage and filth are thrown on the sides of the roads, like used disposable
       nappies, commonly referred to as “pampers”.
    The proliferation of malls and mostly foreign-owned “supermarkets”/ spaza along
       the roads, generate a great deal of waste materials, especially plastic, papers,
       bottles, etc., which are left scattered everywhere, even in bushes.
    These garbage and filth are not only an eyesore, they also scare potential tourists,
       and they are also a serious health threat.

Filth like this are scattered everywhere in many of our municipalities

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Garbage and filth next to Mohodi village (Molemole municipality) and next in Senwabarwana
settlements (Blouberg municipality)

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3. HUGE POTENTIAL IN RURAL AREAS LIKE BMS

    The rural areas that are known to be poverty-stricken because of years of neglect,
       most of them have huge untapped potential.
    Such area is the Blouberg-Makgabeng-Senwabarwana (BMS) which is richly
       endowed with the huge potential resources in the form of: scenic beauty; fauna
       and flora in places like Blouberg and Malebogo Reserves; world-class Makgabeng
       rock-art paintings; missionary history; Malebogo-Boer War history; intangible
       heritage of dance and performances; and so on.
    The tapping into these resources and developing them into real tourists’
       attractions will greatly stimulate economic growth in the area which will create jobs
       for the local communities.

World-class rock art painting on the Makgabeng Mountains, are pride of the BMS rich Heritage

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4. BMS FESTIVALS MODEL

     In an attempt to unlock, expose and tap into the huge potential of the BMS area,
        various activities were initiated, one of them being the BMS Festivals.
     The festivals, which brought traditional music performers together, were intended
        to preserve HERITAGE; develop TOURISM; and conserve the ENVIRONMENT.
     Playing and promoting traditional music of the area, and recording that on CDs is
        preserving HERITAGE; and the interest of tourists in those performances is
        TOURISM development; while members of those groups are encouraged to pick
        up litter, thereby conserving the ENVIRONMENT.
     As such, the approach linking Heritage, Tourism and Environment came to be of
        crucial importance in rural areas such as BMS – in an effort to unlock their
        potential.

INTANGIBLE HERITAGE IN BMS: Traditional music dance and performances are a rich heritage in the BMS area

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During BMS Festivals, traditional music performers clean up the Environment as awareness

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5. TREE PLANTING

    Another significant initiative in the BMS area was the tree-planting programme
       around the town of Senwabarwana.
    In 2017, from the Ga-Broekman village in the north-eastern entrance of Blouberg
       municipality, throughout Senwabarwana, up to Ga-Moleele village in the south-
       western end of Blouberg, a total 340 trees were planted - another of linking way:
       Heritage, Tourism, Environment.
    The tree-planting initiative was led by P.E.A.C.E Foundation and the Blouberg
       municipality.

Tree planting is part of keeping the Environment clean, green and hygienic

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6. 2018 KEEP SENWABARWANA CLEAN GREEN AND HYGIENIC CAMPAIGN

6.1 Campaign Background

   As already indicated, the KSCGHC was intended as an awareness tool to the
     communities as well as leaders in various sectors.
   The Campaign is also an attempt to keep the momentum of the environment to
     remain clean, green and hygienic by combating the scattering and piling up of filth
     and garbage.
   This campaign was still led by P.E.A.C.E Foundation and the Blouberg
     municipality.
   The KSCGHC was planned to run for one week: 21 – 25 May 2018.
   Volunteers with transport stipend were to join hands with the Blouberg municipality
     EPW personnel to pick up litter from Ga Broekman village, through
     Senwabarwana, up to Ga Moleele village.
   Because of the strike action at the Blouberg municipality that coincided exactly
     with the campaign, the municipality's participation was minimally restricted.
   However, the municipality made available resources such as gloves, masks, and
     refuse bags.

                                  KSCGHC billboard

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6.2 The Campaign

   The campaign started as planned on the morning of Monday 21 May 2018.
   The volunteers were joined on the first day by few EPW personnel - while the
     municipal political leadership came in the morning to welcome the campaign – and
     that gave the volunteers the required motivation and moral support.
   The campaign successfully dragged for the entire five days as planned - and the
     impact was remarkable.

           The signboard welcoming visitors with a loud and clear message

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Dr. Tlou Setumu (with blue overalls and cap) leads the Campaign – he is addressing volunteers

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Volunteers and EPWs (under Environmental Inspector Ramahuma) being motivated and encouraged by
Blouberg Councilors Morapedi and Rangata

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HARDWORKING VOLUNTEERS: Picking up litter (above); and having lunch (below)

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7. CHALLENGES AND RECOMMENDATIONS

7.1 Challenge: There is a ticking time bomb as filthy garbage is piling in between where
human beings are staying, posing a serious threat to human life - including children.
7.1 Recommendation: This is a serious issue of high priority - and because it has
reached this dangerous proportion, it must be immediately escalated beyond the
municipalities. The provincial/national departments of environment, health, etc, should
intervene as a matter of urgency, because otherwise we are waiting for unimaginable
epidemics like cholera, typhoid, etc., to befall on these vulnerable communities.

7.2 Challenge: The issue of garbage and filth removal is not regarded as a priority, even
when it poses such a dangerous threat.
7.2 Recommendation: The municipalities - not only Blouberg - must seriously prioritise
the removal of garbage among their people, especially because they are constitutionally
mandated to do so and they resourced to do that.

7.3 Challenge: The EPW personnel do not take their duties seriously. Having worked on
the ground with EPW's, most of them spend the whole time sitting down; lying down;
loitering; while they don't care about picking up garbage which is clearly visible all over.
7.3 Recommendation: EPW personnel must just do their work as they are paid by the
taxpayer's money - it is unacceptable to see papers and plastic scattered all over, while
orange overalls EPWs loiter around - only to be paid like this whole thing is motente to
them. There must be a clear difference between “going to work” and “doing the work”.

7.4 Challenge: There is apparent lack of supervision of those who must clean our
environment - hence they can get away with this situation of loitering while garbage is
piling up.
7.4 Recommendation: It is hereby recommended that the Environmental Officials and
Inspectors who are specifically employed to take care of our Environment, must do their
jobs, including supervision of those under them, like EPWs, in order to combat the
endemic filth and garbage - not only in Blouberg, but all over.

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7.5 Challenge: There is a new taxi rank emerging towards the north-eastern border of
Blouberg municipality on the way towards Ga Broekman village on the right - and filth is
gathering and flying over from that area because of cooking and commuting on that spot.
7.5 Recommendation: The ladies cooking there and the taxi drivers there should be
addressed, and assisted to keep their place of operation clean by the Blouberg
municipality.

7.6 Challenge: The tractor transporting garbage to the Blouberg municipality landfill is
broadcasting filth all over.
7.6 Recommendation: The person/s driving the waste tractor to the landfill should know
that the waste they are taking to the landfill is being blown away on the way, and that
doesn't help any effort to try to keep the area clean. That needs to be stopped immediately
and the person driving that tractor must ensure that the papers and plastic do not fly over
from the tractor.

7.7 Challenge: The attitude of the general public towards throwing everything all over is
problematic.
7.7 Recommendation: It is hereby recommended that the municipalities' leadership
should take upon themselves to prioritise emphasing the need to desist from throwing
rubbish around during community meetings/ imbizos.

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FILTH AND GARBAGE ARE NOT ONLY ENDEMIC IN BLOUBERG: This ugly sight of garbage is found along
the road next to Makgodu-Ramongwana and Ga Hlahla villages (Polokwane municipality)

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Most of the times EPWs are found sitting down or loitering while filth is piling up unremoved

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8. CONCLUSION

   This Report is compiled in the spirit of keeping our villages, small towns, sides of
     the roads clean, green and hygienic for the good benefit of all society and humanity
     as that will avoid the preventable sicknesses that could befall on all of us.
   It is also intended that with clean, green and healthy ENVIRONMENT, our rich
     HERITAGE resources can be turned into sustainable TOURISM industries that
     can stimulate our local economies that will create jobs for the poverty-stricken rural
     communities.

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