Artiste walks against drugs

Langalakhe Mabena
PLUMTREE born and bred Afro-soul artiste Babongile Sibanda faced his fears and walked 100km from Bulawayo to Plumtree last week to raise awareness on drug abuse and its effects.

Sibanda said he took the gruelling journey to inspire young people to abstain from taking drugs, which has become a cause for concern in Plumtree and the entire country.

Mathematically, a 100km can be covered in 24 hours. The average runner moves at about 10 km/h.

With an average speed of 5km/h, one would reach the destination after 22 hours in the mammoth march.

In this case, Sibanda who was accompanied by his brother Lewis, took 17 hours to cover the 100km distance, as the journey was fused with jogging and walking.

The two left Bulawayo last week on Friday at 10pm and they did a light jog right up to West Acre and arrived there at 00:21AM. They then took a brisk walk up to Cyrene Turn and jogged up to the toll-gate (arriving at 01:52AM).

A light walk to Figtree shops was taken by the two followed by a light jog up to Usher Turn (arriving there at 04:26AM).

From Usher, they walked to Sundowns and arrived at 06:17AM, where they changed clothes that’s when Babongile’s leg started giving him problems after he sustained a muscle cramp. This forced them to stop jogging and they then walked up to Marula (arriving at 08:18AM).

Babongile’s leg got serious so they were forced to rest. After resting, they then slowly walked the rest of the way to Plumtree.

Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndovu, the minister of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry joined Sibanda at the 23km point towards Plumtree and walked with them to Plumtree town, where they  arrived at 17:05pm.

They were received by the Plumtree community including Babongile’s mother and sister, with the walk ending on a high note at Omadu where there was a modelling contest.

Sibanda is a happy man after completing the walk.

“Plumtree has always been a quiet peaceful town. But, in less than a year, we have witnessed a surge in young kids getting hooked to hard substances.

“This has led to a rise in crime such as house breaking, petty theft, robberies and unplanned pregnancies, all of which can be traced to drug intake.

“I decided to do the 100km walk as a way of raising awareness about the growing problem because no one was talking about it. I hope that awareness on these substances that have affected the community was raised and I hope the walk will have an impact on the youths,” said Sibanda.