Youths should shun abusing illicit drugs and substances and focus on their education and building their future, Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga said yesterday.
Speaking after leading the clean up exercise at Mahusekwa business centre, in Mashonaland East, he said: "Youths, I urge you to stop the habit of abusing drugs. Hazvina hunhu. If any one of you has that in mind, please throw that away. You are the future leaders and we will leave this beautiful nation in your hands.
"Our years on this earth have advanced. So we want you to focus on your education and find ways of creating decent employment," he said.
Parents and guardians should always ensure that children were not abusing drugs.
VP Chiwenga, who is also the Minister of Health and Child Care, reminded the people to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
He urged those who took the first jab to take the second one and encouraged those who took the first and second jabs to go for the third one.
Before addressing the huge gathering, VP Chiwenga participated in the clean up, part of the national programme on the first Friday of each month, and went on to plant a tree at Mahusekwa district hospital.
After doing his share of collecting litter, VP Chiwenga said it is important come up with home-grown solutions to effectively stop littering.
"Nowadays, we talk more of recycling initiatives and these can only be achieved if, as individuals, we embrace the concept of waste segregation at source. Therefore I encourage all citizens to embrace a culture of separating perishables from non-perishables, which will be a starting point to enhance the economy with zero waste and resource efficiency. I want to implore all of us to make sure that we clean-up our rural service centres, growth points and homes.
"We should come up with home-grown solutions to effectively address littering problems in our localities. There is need to promote anti-littering behaviour among the public and business communities. I challenge business associations and vendors to form waste management committees to spearhead regular cleaning of their environment and work places.
"We are all entitled to a clean environment but it takes a collaborative effort to achieve it. Let us all remain focused on achieving a clean, safe and healthy environment that we so much envisage as a nation and create the future we want for ourselves."
Meanwhile Minister of Defence and War Veterans Affairs Cde Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri, while leading Clean-Up Day in Beitbridge town yesterday, stressed the need for the town to match the new border post with an upgrade of its public spaces.
She commended President Mnangagwa for ensuring the full implementation of the town's transformation.
"I want to thank President Mnangagwa for his sound leadership and commitment to change the face of Beitbridge town through the border post modernisation programme," said Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri.
"The project brings with it an array of benefits which include employment creation, facilitation of trade and investment, business travel and tourism.
The commissioning of this project is testimony to his determination and aspiration for an empowered and prosperous middle income society by 2030, and living no one and no place behind".
She said the Beitbridge town was favoured by its unique geographical location at the heart of the North-South Trade Corridor, making it the busiest inland port of entry in sub-Saharan Africa.
The Minister said the port of entry was a gateway into the rest of Africa, with an estimated 1000 vehicles and 15 000 people passing through the port of entry daily and the numbers increasing.
"The volume of traffic had had decreased at the time we were at the height of Covid-19. Since the situation has to some extent been contained, we are happy that there is a hive of activity which is a demonstration that our economy is growing," she said.
"The increase in transit population is presenting a lot of challenges when dealing with litter in this town on a daily basis. This is an incentive to our mantra Zimbabwe is open for business".
Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri said it was pleasing to note that the Municipality of Beitbridge had already started working on the beautification of the town and planting trees, in line with the vision of President Mnangagwa.
She said the ambiance of the town should be improved considering that the town presented a face of Zimbabwe to those travellers coming in through South Africa.
Cde Muchinguri-Kashiri said it was critical for the local authority to green every space available in the town and to provide litter bins and offer quality services to the rate payers and the transit population.
"We are not only beautifying our town, but we are also creating a carbon sink for the carbon dioxide we emit and our cars emit on a daily basis," she added.
The Minister said there was a need for the local municipality and its stakeholders to add fruit trees to the trees they will be planting.
She said Beitbridge should be turned into an orange town considering the climatic condition in the area.
The local municipality, she said still using an old dumpsite, which has now been converted into a metal recycling industry with a major focus on aluminium pots.
"This means that more recyclable material is being taken to this facility from our homes instead of separating waste from the source and recovering recyclable materials," said the Minister.
"The National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1) is very clear on promoting recycling initiative, and hence I challenge the Municipality of Beitbridge to embrace the sustainable material recovery and recycling trajectory, to help keep our environment clean and healthy.
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"Let me press on the need to create a clear culture of best waste management practices especially in ensuring that we don't become a dumping ground of all the transboundary waste."
She said Zimbabweans should adopt a zero tolerance to litter culture which can be emulated by all those who pass through Beitbridge border town.
An ill-mannered behaviour of littering and discarding waste at undesignated sites, she said must be discouraged by all well-meaning Zimbabweans.
Cde Muchinguri-Kashiri said there was a strong need for behavioural change for everyone is far as waste management is concerned.
"Play your part as an individual and the law enforcement agents will play their part as well. At the same time, transport operators should abide by the laws of the country in a similar way they obey laws on solid waste management across the borders. Our environment is no one's property to destroy. It is everyone's responsibility to protect it," she said.
Since the launch of the national clean up day on the first Friday of each month in 2018, the minister said the programme was bearing fruit through the initiatives being implemented by corporates, non-governmental organisations, government departments, civil society groups and individuals.
"As a nation, this remains a game changer as we thrive to achieve a clean, safe and healthy environment," she said.
