First Lady Maureen Mwanawasa this morning joined thousands of Soweto Market traders in cleaning the filthy market surroundings.
Mrs Mwanawasa’s action marked the flagging off of the ‘Keep Zambia Clean’ campaign at Soweto market, a trade centre that has for long been a source of concern due to poor hygiene standards.
Mrs. Mwanawasa, clad in a White duster coat and gumboots, was joined by Local
Government and Housing Minister, Sylvia Masebo, Lusaka Mayor, Steven Chilatu and
several ministers’ wives in the exercise.
Speaking before she commissioned the clean up campaign, Mrs Mwanawasa called on
Lusaka residents to join hands with government in keeping the country clean and
health.
She said clean and safe environments are cardinal in preventing diarrhoea diseases
such as Cholera.
Mrs. Mwanawasa said market surroundings should be kept clean at all times because
they are a source of most of the food consumed by the people.
She urged the traders to maintain high standards of cleanliness in a bid to sustain
a clean environment and prevent diseases.
At the same occasion, Mrs Masebo, urged marketers to support the program regardless
of political affiliations.
Mrs Masebo said all Lusaka residents must unite in efforts of keeping residential
homes and public places in the city clean.
And Lusaka mayor, Mr Chilatu also reiterated the need for the residents to support
the program due to its positive impact on efforts of developing the city.
Speaking earlier, Soweto Marketer’s Development Committee co-chairperson, Nora Koyi,
commended Mrs Mwanawasa for joining the Soweto marketeers in cleaning the market.
Ms Koyi said the market is faced with several challenges that include the lack of a
consistent garbage collection programme.
She noted that the market accumulates over 20 tonnes of garbage everyday which
remains uncollected for a long time.
Ms Koyi observed that the garbage was last collected in February this year adding
that government should address the issue urgently.
ZANIS
This is great!!!. But i don’t know why this should be news, because even if they clean today, for as long as the council is not empowered to clean and children are not taught in school and in homes the importance and how to hundle gabbage, tomorrow Lusaka will still be dirt. “Where one cleans another person thinks thats the best place to throw, and someone will say if we don’t throw anyhow the cleaners will have no job so we should continue throwing gabbage recklessly”. We need the curriculum for pre schools, primary, secondary and all levels to be reviewed and incoperating issues of gabbage management at individual level. Then 15 years from now, everyone will look at gabbage in a similar way.
Does this mean there is no council or municipal in Lusaka?
and why are the marketeers paying the council levy?
#2 Kayata, Easy has expounded on this motive?Let us wait and see the frequency of doing this?
Whether council or no council its the mentality of people that should change. The same people who are throwing rubbish anyhow Zambia if taken outside Zambia, they will never throw any rubbish anyhow. So the first lady is just wasting her time. If it is for her to gain political mileage, then she can do it but not to keep Lusaka clean or for sustainability. And the council should stop this habit of collecting money from marketeers and yet they do not provide the service. Poor Zambians have been taken for granted by few selfish individuals. Zambians, lets wake up!!
To the first lady I say keep it up. it amazes me to see that Zambian are so used to things being done for them and when one makes some effort to do somthing about something they come up and condem such effort what have you done to make a difference in the community #4. I do not see what is political about just encouraging cleanliness. what is good then. We should relise that to manage garbage is costly affair and where fasilities are not available then Iindividuals should make some effort to clean up their surroundings, after all when sickness strikes it us Zambians who suffer. So until we can have proper investment in waste management we should appreciate such efforts, at the end of the day the marketeres should develope some way of managing the waste and they can.Marketeres also should be moreful of where they through there garbage.
first of all id like to comend the first lady for making an effort. Those who critisize shame on us.She could have been sitting in the splendour of State house while people at the market wallow in filth.We as zambians should catch a bloddy wake up and support the first lady for making an effort.We should take the good from neighbouring countries like Namibia(one of the cleanest countries in the world)We need to change our mentality and not wait for the council to clean.charitybegins at homeand it starts with personal cleaniliness..a clean person does not want to be surrounded by dirt.like the Mr Mofu said we need to keep telling our children to be hygenic because a clean person does not want to be surrounded by dirt.How can anyone even think this is a political move by the first lady.This is backward thinking.
Our friends next door will be hosting the world cup so we should wake up.Tourist will run out of Zambia Onother thing i can ecourage is to just keep talking remeber Mr Sata..
Let us not wait for this to fail but embrace the Effort.there’s a lot of good suggestions i have read.the council is trying and they have limited resourses but we as people need to change our mentality..keep talking about this issue on radio and let people give thier opinions.we need to change our mentality of picking up litter.the copuncil can also post warnings for people not to litter but encourage us to love our city.One Zambia one nation..think about it