‘IB’s front

POSITION

Chairperson

Deputy Chairperson

Secretary General

Treasurer General

National Organiser

Deputy National Organizer

Communication Advocacy and Publicity

Stakeholders

International Affairs Secretary

Legal Affairs

Religious Affairs

THE FRONT LEADERSHIP

are available for everyone to bring their issues to us. 5egistration to The )ront is also open to individuals and communities in general. The public is also encouraged to register any community issue that they think will need the attention of The )ront,´ he said.

Dlamini further indicated that The )ront was already running on the ground after being approached by the people of .a.hoza to assist them in resisting their planned eviction.

QUERIES

“We would love to add that we are ready as The )ront to attend to all Tueries by the people and, therefore, encourage everyone to bring to our attention any contention they have with government so that we can challenge it for them.

“We want to place ourselves as the public defender since we observed an opening left by political parties and entities while they were pushing their ideologies. Our next issue is the purported eviction at .a.hoza. The people have approached The )ront to challenge the demolition of homes and eventually eviction of families in the location. We want to encourage of energy, and altogether, this accounted for approximately 0 per cent of the global annual usage of fossil fuels - half for the production of plastic and other half for fuel.REDUCTION

+e predicted that this figure would rise to 20 per cent in 20 0 if people continued with the unlimited use of plastic. +e said the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions which would prevent an average temperature increase of two degrees was an extremely urgent environmental goal. =wane pointed out that the production and use of plastic had a smaller carbon footprint than alternatives such as paper and metal.

“%ut a choice for plastic driven by that consideration does not take the end-of-life damage that plastic causes to the environment into account,´ he said. +e also said that the sustainability

th goal was aimed at avoiding and strongly reducing the pollution in the sea, especially from waste that originated from

NAME

Bonginkosi ‘IB’

Sipho

Nozizwe

Thandeka

Emmanuel

Sicelo

Vusi

Nozi

Miguel

Stukie

Pastor Siboniso

SURNAME

Dlamini

Dlamini

Madonsela

Khoza

Mamba

Vilane

Shongwe

Mndzebele

Nunes

Motsa

Makhubo

other communities to organise themselves or ask us to come and organise them into a solid group so that as The )ront we can come and assist them. In siSwati, The )ront is called Lubumbano Lwenkhululeko

“We are on the field on a daily basis fighting against evictions, pushing for restitution of the 9uvulane farmers, wrongly treated Mafucula folks and also standing up for the marginalised women, youth, disabled, and people of colour, L*%TI4 and religion. We are the first if not the only group where both Christians and Muslims pray before our meetings,´ he said. land. *iven the rough estimate that 0 per cent of marine waste came directly from land and the fact that people were dealing with billions of kilos of waste per year, =wane said it was obviously of great importance to achieve a reduction in the amount of plastic that ended up in the sea. The country¶s waste management expert said he was sure that huge benefits could be reaped if effective waste collection systems were to be put in place everywhere while, at the same time, the use of plastics was reduced.

+e said cleaning up plastic from beaches and capturing the plastic at sea was important, but overall these efforts were of little help if the flow of plastic was not reduced at the same time.

+e said ecosystems in the sea and on land were threatened by (micro) plastics and chemical additives used. +e said plastic could suffocate, lead to animals not being able to consume enough food, make animals easier prey for other animals, make coral reefs sick, and much more. “Significant reduction in plastics and microplastics will Tuickly lead to the recovery of ecosystems and biodiversity,´ he said.9imbai .apurura, the founder and Executive Director of Women 8nlimited, said plastic pollution was an increasingly severe environmental crisis in the region, Eswatini and world at large.

RECOGNITION

She said people were being exposed to chemicals from plastic multiple times per day.“There is growing recognition that the problem must be addressed, with the recent announcement that retailers, manufacturing and department stores in Eswatini should stop providing single-use plastic bags to customers starting in 202 , the reality is that a single ban is not enough. We all need to take action,´ said .apurura.

She alluded to the fact that ridding the earth of plastic waste and ending people¶s dependence on it could never be an easy task. +owever, she said it was possible to accomplish the task.

“We made plastic, we only have one planet, instead, let¶s work together towards a healthier future,´ she said.

She noted plastics were piling up on landfills, resultantly entering the food chain. .apurura stated that microplastics have been found in human blood, raising risks of cancer and development orders. “We are poisoning ourselves and the planet,´ she said. She urged stakeholders to work together to clean the environment. On another note, the manufacturers of plastics are opposed to the ban of the plastics. They are also of the view that there is no evidence that the technology would accelerate the decomposition of the plastics.

Last year, the Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs introduced the Control of 3lastic %ag 5egulations of 202 .The legislation received resistance from some of the members of 3arliament who included Manzini South M3 Macford Sibandze.

(Pics: Mfanukhona Nkambule) Participants drawn from various stakeholders taking a group photo after they had deliberated on various topics such as providing an overview of the Eswatini Zero Plastic Contamination Initiative. The workshop was hosted by Women Unlimited and funded by UNDP.