Editor – I am in two minds about Jean Desfontaines’ clean-up initiative (JEE, February 5).
Also read: A cleaner suburb is just what this Joburg diesel technician ordered
On the one hand, of course, it’s laudable that he take the reins and start to clean up others’ mess by asking for a levy and setting folk to work.
On the other, it’s indicative of a national problem that we seem to be happy to pay twice for so many things.
Our taxes fund Eskom, yet we buy petrol generators.
Our taxes fund SAPS, yet we pay huge amounts for private security.
Our rates fund the council, yet Desfontaines’ neighbours pay him to pay others to clean up the streets.
I literally have no idea when I last saw a council street cleaner in Reynolds View, probably a decade or more ago.
Of course, in an ideal world, people wouldn’t litter.
I follow a guy on YouTube who tours the USA in a van: I have yet to see a scrap of paper in any of the towns he visits. If we don’t make a mess, there will be no mess to clean up.
Jim Brown
