Failure by some Francistown residents to observe health hazards is frustrating the council’s bid to maintain a clean and healthy environment, Francistown Mayor, Shadreck Nyeku, said this week.
Speaking during a full council meeting, he said although the city council is trying in vain to help people maintain a clean environment by providing services such as temporary toilets, waste containers and dustbins, people are not cooperative in utilizing the services.
“When people were allocated plots in the Gerald Estates location, council provided them with Enviro Loos (temporary toilets) to use while constructing houses, however the city council was disappointed to┬álearn that some people decided to remove these toilets from their homesteads and dump them in open spaces and in the bush,” he said.
Nyeku said that such a practice is putting people’s lives at risk as it may lead to the spread of diseases. He added that the city council also provided other waste containers in different locations of Francistown for people to dispose waste that is not needed in the household bins only to learn that people are burning these containers, which then makes it difficult for waste to be collected to the landfill.
“There are some household bins that had been provided to the Francistown community by the council before 2008, when the council resolved that it shall be the mandate of the home owners to provide new refuse bins. The owners failed to replace the old household bins,” he said.
The mayor said that the worn out old household bins are now a health hazard to the community especially that children play inside the bins. He said the council has resolved to remove all these worn out household bins and the home owners would be required to replace them at their own costs.
He added that the council had resorted to collecting all the dumped Enviro loos(toilets).