Beitbridge:Whenpollution becomes acceptable

A CLEAN and safe environment is every citizen’s desire but when one nears Beitbridge town they are greeted with vegetation covered in thick layers of dust.

The lush green shrubs and thorny bushes that form part of the arid region cease to feed the eyes with the beauty that the country is. They are all dusty brown while the thorns also trap a lot of litter ranging from plastics to anything else that does not please the eye.

Everything else including buildings is camouflaged in fine dust. And those that stay to the wind side of the town and the road are the most affected as the environment is polluted with reckless abandon while authorities do little to stop it.

The air is also far from fresh with exhaust fumes forming a large component of what people breathe and one does not need a medical qualification to admit that this is a long recipe for health complications. Although the Environmental Management Authority (Ema), whose mandate is to ensure the sustainable management of natural resources and protection of the environment, the prevention of pollution and environmental degradation among other things, has had running battles with litterbugs, the story is far from being a success.

Ema, like any other arm or quasiGovernment organisation tasked with ensuring a pollution-free nation is one of the most dreaded entities by corporates, industries and litterbugs. They are known to enforce stiff penalties on those caught offside as a deterrent measure because poor environmental practices are known to breed diseases such as cholera and tuberculosis (TB) among others.

The World Health Organisation ranks Zimbabwe the 17th country with the highest TB burden. Further, TB is the second leading cause of severe illness and mortality in the country with an average of 40 000 annual infections.

Overcrowding among a host of causes including dust and silica are some of the known causes of TB, and Ema has in some areas been engaged in fights with several organisations over such kind of pollutions.

According to the International Standardisation Organization (ISO 4225 - ISO, 1994), “Dust is small solid particles, conventionally taken as those particles below 75 μm in diameter, which settle out under their own weight but which may remain suspended for some time.”

Urban centres, mining and border towns are among the worst affected areas by pollution and TB in Zimbabwe.

Beitbridge border town has however, grown to be one of the busiest inland ports with vehicular and human traffic increasing continuously as a result of growth in regional trade volumes.

The increase in traffic is undoubtedly contributing significantly to pollution levels in the town as heavy vehicles raise a lot of dust particles into residential and commercial areas making the natural environment devoid of the freshness that it should have.

The town has become one of the worst affected by both pollution from dust and TB in Zimbabwe.

It is estimated that the volume of traffic and people has been increasing each year with a total of 170 000 people accessing Beitbridge Border Post per month while a total of 15 000 trucks, 2100 buses, 30 000 private cars pass through the same border per month.

The Government has over a decade been trying to upgrade the port of entry into a modern urban centre without success due of a number of issues including funding and bureaucratic bottlenecks.

And the fact that only the export side is paved should worry the authorities as it poses a danger to officials on the arrival commercial section and over 2 000 residents living directly to the west of the border risk contracting TB and other diseases as carbon toxics and dust particles raised are concentrated in those areas.

Most people and businesses in Limpopo suburb hardly open windows, despite the town’s high temperatures for fear of inhaling fine dust coming from the part of the world. Besides the border post the town’s major water treatment plant is also located 1km west of the port and is not exempt from pollution.

In general terms, airborne contaminants occur in the gaseous form (gases and vapours) or as aerosols and in scientific terminology, an aerosol is defined as a system of particles suspended in a gaseous medium, usually air in the context of occupational hygiene, is usually air.

These may exist in the form of airborne dusts, sprays, mists, smokes and fumes and they relate to a wide range of occupational diseases. Airborne dusts are known to be associated with widespread occupational lung diseases such as the pneumoconioses, as well as with systemic intoxications such as lead poisoning, especially at higher levels of exposure.

There is also an increase in other dustrelated diseases, such as cancer, asthma, allergic alveolitis, and irritation, as well as a whole range of non-respiratory illnesses, which may occur at much lower exposure levels.

It still boggles the mind why the Public Works Department (PWD), which owns Government infrastructure and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) who are charged with maintaining the infrastructure at Beitbridge border port, are struggling to deal with rampant pollution. In short pollution has become an acceptable tradition in Beitbridge despite its effects on the residents and travelling public.

Zimra’s regional manager for Beitbridge Mr Batsirai Chadzingwa told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Foreign Affairs on visit to the border recently said the situation on the commercial arrivals section was deplorable.

One wonders how Ema, who have been very loud in other places over pollution related matters, and are also stationed at the same border have failed to take Zimra and PWD to task over the rampant pollution of the town.

In addition, this paper is reliably informed that Zimra collects 70 percent of its revenue from Beitbridge though they have failed to take care of their cash cow since 2001.

Several task teams have been to this port of entry on fact finding missions and making colourful presentations of how they expect to turn around fortunes at the border but in earnest these have just become perennial talk shows.

It is high time the Government acted on the rampant pollution of environment at the border.

There is an urgent need for the upgrading of the port of entry which is also regarded as the country’s cash cow considering that Zimbabwe and South Africa’s trade stands at 60 percent. Further, an average of 6 000 trucks in transit to countries in the north of the Zambezi River use Beitbridge as a stepping stone per month.

Regional and international trade can grow but without proper environment management systems, the Government will still have challenges in maintaining a healthy environment. The paving of the arrival section should be attended to with the urgency it deserves before many lives are lost to avoidable diseases.

Research indicates that it costs anything from $66 to $14 000 to treat a TB patient, for a full regimen depending on the country and strain of the disease. It also remains to be seen when Ema will decide to act and deal with real environmental issues at Beitbridge. The situation on the South African side is a stark contrast to what prevails on the Zimbabwean side.