Mujaji completes 945km walk in environment management campaign
Ellen Mlambo
TWO NATIONS REPORTER
BEITBRIDGE- Former Zimbabwe Paralympian Elliot Mujaji has together with a team of three people that he was leading completed a 945 km walk on Thursday last week after they partook in a campaign Step Your Mind Cross Country Civic Society Transformation for commercialization of rural homes that covered the Trans Africa highway from Zambezi to Limpopo (Chirundu to Beitbridge)
Mujaji walked the long-distance with Ben Bones, Philip Vhekwa and Engineer Sam Kundishora who was their support person.
The campaign which was carried out from December 2, 2022 which was the last national clean up day for last year in Chirundu to January 6, 2023 this year in Beitbridge was aimed at promoting a clean environment through holding of clean up campaigns in the six provinces they walked through, planting of fruit trees along the Pan African highway and reduction of road carnage through road safety campaigns.
The campaign was organised by SAGIT Innovation Centre ( Science and Advanced Global Innovation Technologies in partnership with the government of Zimbabwe.
The Director for Economic Affairs and Investment Matabeleland South Richmond Ncube was standing in for the Matabeleland South Provincial Affairs Minister who was the guest of honour.
Reading a speech, he said, “I would like to appreciate SAGIT for the work well done, initiatives at hand and for being instrumental at continental level during the development of the AgriTech blueprint guided by Smart Africa.These efforts place Zimbabwe as the continental referral point for sustainable food security solutions, said Ncube.
He said the campaign is a Pan African call to civic society transformation initiative which seeks to pilot and drive the integration of rural homes and small holder farmers directly into the mainstream economic activities.
Ncube added that all waste material that was picked up will be recycled into bricks by the Midlands State University to build the Zimbabwe Bird Clean Environmrnt Monument that will be awarded to and commissioned by the President Emmerson Mnangagwa in recognition of the national initiative, culture and success of the national clean-up campaigns.
He said that the National Museums and Monuments are in the process of facilitating the building of the Zimbabwe Clean Environment Monument.
In an interview with Mujaji, he said they walked each a total of 1, 2 billion footsteps in 27 days and they had seven extra days of resting.
He added that their walk was done in 195 hours and the longest stretch was of 72 km from Bubi to Beitbridge which they walked on their last day, Thursday last week.
Mujaji said they are selling out their footsteps to people who are willing to buy them at 35 cents per each step.
“We thought of walking from Zambezi to Limpopo, that is Chirundu to Beitbridge and per day we were covering about 45kms to 50 km such that we could manage with our time because we were supposed to attend the first national clean up of this year in Beitbridge on January 6. We were cautioning our drivers along the Pan African highway to exercise caution when driving throughout the festive season,” he added.
He said they were also attending clean up campaigns in every town they pass through and they planted fruit trees along the highway.
“We want to make the Pan African highway a road that will make people harvest their own fruits and sell them and in a way commercializing the highway. We have started this, the three of us and it’s up to fellow Zimbabweans to make the Pan African highway a place where people make their business grow through planting trees,” said Mujaji.
