The city council has engaged the media for a partnership in its drive to rid the municipal area of rodents.
This after recent reports of a child dying from rat bites in Diepsloot, another child in hospital for treatment of injuries sustained to the face by rodents, and other children treated for severe rodent bites.
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The engagement involved a media briefing by councillor Nonceba Molwele, MMC for Health and Social Development, who outlined the city’s rodent control programme. Molwele led a site tour in Marlboro and Alexandra where the control programme is currently implemented.
At Marlboro Gardens Combined school, the media was shown the owls project, which is used to control rat infestation, and were given a rat fumigation demonstration. Children have embraced the project and are demystifying cultural beliefs regarding the evil associated with owls. The department introduced this project at four Alexandra schools in 2010 and now, due to its success, is extending it to other schools in Region A and E.
Molwele said the rodents thrived in unhygienic conditions and these should be recitified through a collective effort.
Peter Manganye, director of environmental health, said the only way to remove rodents is through cleanliness within the home and the community. “The department has applied an integrated approach to removing rodents and this includes environmental health awareness campaigns, fumigating burrows with carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide and using cages to trap and destroy the rodents,” he said.
“The pest control staff has conducted non-poisonous fumigation procedures and has distributed 350 rodent cages to households in Alexandria. These cages are collected daily by PikiTup for rat destruction and experimentation.” Danny Mauwane of the vermin control unit in the health department said these methods were humane and eco-friendly.
Molwele said the programme required partnership with the media to raise awareness of society’s collective contribution to and responsibility in eliminating rodents.
3-month-old loses fingers and portion of nose after rat attack in Alex
Another baby attacked by rats in Alex
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