Malota, like many communities in Africa, have no formal waste management systems. Generally; Council (Municipal) waste collection is accessible to those who pay council rates and not those living in informal settlements or those too impoverished to afford the luxury.
Waste management in this context is mostly dumping and burning; people have to live in the direct vicinity of large areas of burning waste, which has many negative health consequences. Not to mention toxic air, ground and water pollution. The situation is now affecting wildlife with elephant dung being found full of plastic bags whilst I personally witnessed elephants eating plastic bags from a small dumpsite.
Zigzag is a local artist who is as passionate about environmental awareness and protection as we are. Several years ago, Zigzag installed a wire elephant on the front lawn of the Livingstone Council, to highlight the lack of environmental awareness of pollution as well as the plight of thousands who are forced to live in it. In collaboration with Jollyboys, Zigzag took a group staying with us to Malota township to reach out to the residents and help the message about waste management gain more momentum.
Jollyboys and Zigzag aim to establish and maintain a regular line of cooperation and communications with Malota (and hopefully other townships). Before the end of the year we aim to return to Malota with Norwegian artists and Zigzag and put on a mini concert to put some fun into a pretty grim subject.
