25 APRIL
Mbabane – The Municipal Council of Mbabane has embarked on a massive exercise to address the damage that has been caused by the ongoing rains and roadwork blitz which will involve pothole patching, graveling and vegetation control. Most of the streets that will be attended to by the City Council are mostly in the central business district and those that are found near busy places like schools, hospitals, clinics and shopping complexes.
The schedule will also include drain cleaning which is being done to make sure that the road network in the city quickly drains rain water from the surface to reduce damage on the surface. Also, Council continues to control vegetation in all the streets to make walkways safe for pedestrians. A total of 23 streets will be attended by the council.
DRAIN CLEANING | POTHOLE PATCHING | GRASS CUTTING | GRADING |
Msunduza | All streets in CBD | Mbabane main streets | Sidvwashini South |
Extension 3 | Extension 3 | Mkhonubovu | |
Makholokholo Road | Sidvwashini Industrial Site | Samora Machel | |
Lukhalo Road | KaMhlaba Road | Pine Valley | |
Sandla |
CLEARING INVASIVE ALIEN PLANTS
By far the most powerful tool for dealing with invasive alien plants revolves around educational and awareness initiatives. However, being able to identify invasive alien vegetation is not enough. We must move to clearing community parks and gardens of invasive plants, clearing our vacant plots as well as riverine areas; and there are a number of ways to do this;
MECHANICAL OR PHYSICAL CONTROL
Force is used to control the target invasive plants, e.g. uprooting (including hand pulling), slashing, mowing or felling, ring- barking, (removing every trace of bark and cambium in a 30cm wide band around the stem at a height of about 50cm) or strip barking (stripping of all the bark from about waist height to below the surface of the soil.)
A highly effective tool is the tree popper which pulls the tree out by the roots, without much effort. This is particularly effective when removing acacia mearnsii.
Advantages include:
Disadvantages include: