Three businesspeople were fined for keeping goats and sheep in the Musina central business district (CBD) and ordered to take their animals away within 24 hours, while another entrepreneur was fined for burning his waste in the CBD, instead of throwing the thrash out in skip bins. This was during a routine law-enforcement inspection around the town, initiated by Musina's municipal manager, Mr Nathi Tshiwanammbi, last Wednesday (12 October).
Tshiwanammbi said the municipality had received complaints about people keeping sheep and goats in town, which is in contravention of the municipal bylaws. "Through our Community Services Department, we had to act swiftly. It is totally unacceptable to have people keeping animals in the CBD, as it poses a health hazard. People should conduct business permissible by law. We will not tolerate a situation where people disregard the law in our presence."
According to Tshiwanammbi, one of the businesspeople had built a complete kraal for his animals behind his shop. "When you walk down the street, you would never suspect that there is anything illegal happening behind the shops. This shop was operating as normal, but we were shocked when we went through the back door and saw a kraal with goats, sheep and piles of animal feed stored inside. We are happy that these businesspeople have complied with our notices and moved their animals within the given 24-hour period. We hope this serves as a lesson to would-be perpetrators as we will not smile on them," he said.
He issued a strong warning to residents who disregard the bylaws of the local authority. "As local government, we play our role of implementing policies, but residents should also assist us by abiding to those laws. Our law-enforcement employees will not tolerate a situation where some residents ignore the law. We want our town to be always clean, so that we can also attract investors and tourists to help build our economy."