St Peters Residents Hold Environmental Accountability Engagement Meeting
Residents from Bulawayo’s Ward 17 peri-urban Hyde Park community in St Peters Village held an environmental rights accountability engagement meeting that was attended by Bulawayo City Council (BCC), the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and the Forestry Commission.
The issues that were discussed in the meeting included:
- Deforestation of Mazwi Nature Reserve and firewood poaching
- Sand poaching
- Waste management
- Veld fires
After the meeting, the community developed an Action Plan to follow up on the meeting recommendations.
Mguza Residents Work on Parliamentary Water Rights Petition
Residents from Umguza’s Mbundane and Pure Gold Housing Trust have begun preparing a parliamentary petition on water rights with assistance from MIHR and support from End Water Poverty.
Speaking during the petition preparation meeting as part of the #MondayWaterAction, the residents indicated that they feel swindled by the private developers and jilted by their local authority. They said when they bought their stands they were told they are serviced but the private developers are now reluctant to service forcing the residents to use borehole water. MIHR will assist the residents to petition Parliament on the matter.
St Peters Soccer Team Receives Soccer Boots Donation
As part of the Matabeleland Institute for Human Rights (MIHR)’s Sports for Human Rights project, the St Peters Super Eleven FC received soccer boots from INSPIRE as a result of the MIHR linkages. MIHR is working with the youths in these teams to educate them on human rights, to empower them to stand up for human rights in their communities as well as to educate other community members on rights issues.
Source: Matabeleland Institute for Human Rights
