The Ehlanzeni District Municipality (EDM) celebrated World Environment Day in Leroro on Monday June 10 in line with the global theme, ‘Land Restoration, Desertification and Drought Resilience’.

“As the Ehlanzeni District, we are expected to support all our local municipalities in terms of environmental management and activities. We felt it was important to choose Thaba Chweu Local Municipality and specifically Leroro so that we can educate the community about the importance of protecting our environment.

We decided to select one illegal dumping ground next to a wetland. We want to preserve this wetland and restore it to its natural state,” said Rirhandzu Ntusi, the EDM’s environmental manager.

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Amos Ngomane, the manager of the waste and environmental management unit of the Thaba Chweu Local Municipality, said: “I want to thank the district municipality for choosing us.

The area is small and mostly rural, and such initiatives take time to commence here. We want to protect the environment since we realised the area has a wetland, which dries up because of pollution.”

Ngomane added that they wanted to ensure that they also educate the community so they can understand why the area should be kept clean.