Former Zimbabwe Broadcasting Holdings chief executive and former presidential press secretary Munyaradzi Hwengwere has been lobbying in South Africa against a looming ban on imports of Zimbabwean white asbestos.
The European Union and other countries are also pressing for the ban on asbestos, so Hwengwere and his team face an uphill battle in trying to convince authorities in South Africa that Zimbabwe's white asbestos is a different substance from the blue and brown asbestos which have been proven so dangerous to health. Inhalation of asbestos fibers can lead to lung cancer and other serious diseases.
A native of the Zvishavane asbestos producing area, Hwengwere told reporter Jonga Kandemiiri of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe he is trying to help the hundreds of thousands of families whose asbestos-based livelihoods are in jeopardy.
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