Residents take back street
“If more residents took their streets they live in and made it their own, just think how beautiful the South could look again. It really made us all so proud when we had cleaned up and stood back and saw what we had achieved.”
LOCAL resident Ella du Toit, who lives in Rosettenville Ext, saw over the 16 years she has lived herethe rubbish and filth build up and eventually decided, after seeing a rat run through her kitchen, to clean up
“People have dumped in the cul-de-sac, corner of Julius and Rosey streets, for as long as I’ve lived here and eventually the natural rocks couldn’t even be seen for rubbish and dirt. For a while I’d thought about trying to get a group of residents to come and help me, and I’d made sure my pavement was clean and planted with succulents, cacti and shrubs. The recent Pikitup strike didn’t help as people came with bakkies full of household garbage and dumped it here. I’d seen rats rummaging among the rubbish in the cul-de-sac area but when one came into my house, that was it,” said Ella.
Ella contacted Phillip Venter, an independent candidate in the area for the upcoming local elections, who is also a member of the Rosettenville Awareness Group, and with his assistance as well as some local residents, including Marius Smit, Denise Steenkamp and Ella’s gardener Emmanuel Zibhondo, the work began.
“We called it our boot camp, which lasted 10 days. The amount of rubbish we cleaned up was unbelievable and in the end we removed bakkie loads from the cul-de-sac and rocks. We even uncovered a cement drain cover which no one had ever been aware of,” added Ella.
The residents who have been involved in the mass clean-up have also donated plants and succulents which Ella and Emmanuel have been planting among the natural rocks and alongside the steps which come up from Rosey Street into the cul-de-sac.
“We feel filth draws bad elements to our area and often men in fancy cars bring prostitutes to the cul-de-sac. I can’t even begin to tell you how many used condoms we picked up. Now that the area is clean and shrubs, cacti and aloes are being planted, we hope the riff-raff will take their activities elsewhere.
“This enclave is home to some elderly residents too who find it difficult to keep their pavement gardens neat and tidy and we are hoping to help some of the people to clean-up. If we can get more residents involved who can assist our small group of volunteers, or if you have plants or cuttings from your own gardens you would like to donate, please give me a call on 083 535 0688,” said an enthusiastic Ella.
“If more residents took their streets they live in and made it their own, just think how beautiful the South could look again. It really made us all so proud when we had cleaned up and stood back and saw what we had achieved.”
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