By 
By Ross Moyo
Look at who NetOne cleaned with — and you see its stakeholder map.
In Gokwe: Gokwe Town Council. A growth point turned town, Gokwe faces rapid urbanization without matching waste infrastructure. The town generates an estimated 35 tonnes of waste daily, with only 40% formally collected, according to EMA Mat North. NetOne partnering council is direct support to devolution.
In Bulawayo: EMA + Council of Churches. Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second city, produces 450 tonnes of waste daily. EMA has flagged low compliance on waste separation. Partnering the Council of Churches — which represents over 300 churches and 2 million congregants in Matabeleland — is NetOne tapping into moral authority. When a church says “keep the environment clean,” compliance rises.
In Masvingo: Don Bosco Primary School. This is the long game. Zimbabwe’s Environmental Education Policy mandates environmental stewardship from primary level. By cleaning with a school, NetOne is embedding behaviour change at age 8. Don Bosco’s 1,200 learners become ambassadors who go home and tell parents not to dump.
NetOne Spokesperson, PR Manager Ernest Magadzire said it clearly: “We are turning our ESG commitments into action while working alongside local authorities, environmental partners, churches and communities to create cleaner and healthier spaces for all.”
This is the textbook ESG stakeholder model: Government (council), regulator (EMA), civil society (churches), and education (schools).
Most corporates do clean-ups with staff only — 50 people in branded t-shirts picking litter. NetOne’s model distributes responsibility, which is why it scales. Each partner mobilizes its own constituency.
In Gokwe, council workers brought trucks. In Bulawayo, churches brought volunteers. In Masvingo, school kids brought parents.
NetOne provided the brand, coordination and visibility.
That is how you build sustainable communities — not by cleaning alone, but by connecting institutions.
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