Six months jail on those caught dumping litter everywhere
By Staff Reporter
Zimbabweans caught throwing litter on the streets could soon face fines of up to US$500 or six months jail, according to a draft Statutory Instrument (SI), which is awaiting gazetting by government.
Under the draft SI, anyone found dumping litter outside undesignated points can be liable to “a fine not exceeding level eight (8) or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or to both such fine and such imprisonment”.
The law will also impose fines of up to US$5 000 on local authorities that fail to collect waste.
The draft regulations also seek to make the national clean-up programme imposed by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa designated every first Friday of the month, compulsory.
“The President of the Republic of Zimbabwe declared the first Friday of the month, from 8am to 10am, to be a national clean-up day,” the draft SI says.
“It shall be the duty of every individual, corporate body, community and institutions to clean up their surrounding areas, places of work, places of worship, educational premises and immediate surroundings, recreational areas, residential areas, vending sites, car parks and car sales, road servitudes and sports and medical facilities.
“Any person, both natural and juristic, who fails to participate in a national clean-up without reasonable cause, of which burden of proof shall lie upon that person, shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding level 8. Any court convicting a person of this offence shall sentence that person to community service targeting waste management.
“Any person whose surrounding or premises shall be found littered and with accumulated waste dumps and waste material after the national clean-up shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding level 12. Any court convicting a person of this offence shall sentence that person to community service targeting waste management.”
Some of the country’s biggest urban centres are struggling to collect litter from residential areas consistently in what has led to residents and businesses dumping their litter everywhere.
