Uncollected garbage poses health hazards to residents of Ginger Farm Informal Settlements
Region A director says one of the problems with service delivery issues was City officials who wanted to execute their duties sitting behind computers instead of going to the ground.
The residents of Ginger Farm Informal Settlement, which is a stone’s throw away from Lonehill, have promised to work with Pikitup and local ward councillors to keep the area clean.
This was after city officials from Region A and Ward 93 councillor Vino Reddy visited the area as part of a planned walkabout to monitor and assess service delivery in the community on November 1.
One of the residents of Ginger Farm Informal Settlement, Tshepo Moletsane, said garbage in the area has not been collected for a very long time and they didn’t know how to do to have it collected. “We are happy that municipal officials and our councillor visited us today. We have many service delivery issues that we wanted to raise with municipal authorities namely water and electricity. We have committed ourselves to work with the councillor and Pikitup to keep our neighbourhood clean.”
Region A director, Abigail Ndlovu claimed that one of the problems with service delivery issues was city officials who wanted to execute their duties sitting behind computers instead of going to the ground. “I’ve instructed Pikitup to come here and remove this filth. Community members have agreed to work with Pikitup to keep this place clean and untidy. Our plan of action here is to educate and partner with residents so that we can keep this area clean.”
Ndlovu added that the toilet issues previously raised by residents of Clay Oven have been resolved. “We provided them with new toilets and employed local residents to clean the toilets as they demanded.”
Reddy said he was extremely happy that city officials from the region visited the area to see the realities on the ground. “It is important that officials come to the ground and not rely on images we present to them. When you do walkabout of this nature you see and experience the real issues faced by different communities.”
Pikitup spokesperson, Muzi Mkhanazi said non-collection occurred because the dirt road used to access the refuse was narrowed to such an extent that our trucks could not gain access to the skip that was provided to dispose of waste. “This was compounded by the waste collected by waste pickers and left on the site leading up to the build-up of waste in the settlement. Residents in the area have agreed to clear the path to enable access to Pikitup trucks to be able to collect the said waste.” Mkhwanazi said.
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