The executive mayor of the Vhembe District Municipality, Cllr Falaza Mdaka, says it´s high time that people start setting long-term objectives in terms of caring for and protecting the environment. This was during the World Environmental Day celebration that was held at the Muduluni community hall in the Kutama area last Friday.

According to Mdaka, taking care of the environment is part of people´s commitment to be good corporate citizens. "We need to develop a sense of environmental responsibility which is so essential in our everyday life. It is the absence of this responsibility which is causing problems in our streets, residential areas, market places and other public places. This leaves all you responsible citizens with a burden to shoulder. But I am confident that you have the capacity of not only shouldering this burden, but also to influence people to follow environmental discipline," he said.

He said that he was counting on everyone´s support for "our greening initiative to succeed and protect the environment."

The event took place at the same time that the Vhembe District Municipality recently launched its greening initiative project, where they planted trees at various government buildings such as schools, clinics, etc.

Mdaka added that "Environmental protection is an initiative that will benefit us all, and it will continue to benefit the future generation." The theme of this year´s Environmental Day celebration was "many species, one planet, one nature."

It was during this event that community members from various areas of the Vhembe District Municipality engaged in an environmental-education and capacity-building workshop. The workshop focused on the general overview of the state of environment in the Vhembe District, waste management and pollution control, deforestation and environmental compliance and enforcement.

The event was addressed by Mr Moses Manoko from the Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment who said that women must refrain from throwing baby pampers nappies all over the place, because it is polluting the environment.