After five months of residents’ pleas, the municipality has finally cleaned up Douglasdale
Residents have been complaining about the City of Johannesburg’s lack of urgency in maintaining and cleaning public spaces.
The grass is now greener for the residents of Douglasdale as the City of Joburg has finally completed routine maintenance that community members have been complaining about for months.
Residents of Lesley Avenue and Douglas Drive have bemoaned the city’s lack of urgency in maintaining and cleaning the public spaces, which they claim makes the neighbourhood look dirty and unappealing.
Litter and long grass are among the issues residents raised, which have now been addressed, but not before being escalated several times by ward councillor Chris Santana.
“It reverts back to budget availability. City Park’s overall budget has been cut by the new administration and as we are already nine months into the financial year, there is not much budget yet,” he said.
Another resident Marco Camacho commended the city for its efforts in cleaning up the area and cutting down the grass. He said, “I feel fantastic that they are doing their job. I am really happy that they are finally cleaning after so long.” Camacho added that he wants to understand why it’s taken so long. “What’s so hard about cutting vegetation, grass or weeds?”
Reacting to these comments, Alet van Rensburg from Joburg City Parks and Zoo said, “In the City of Johannesburg, littering is the responsibility of Pikitup. However, Joburg City Parks and Zoo (JCPZ) is responsible for litter-picking up teams’ work over weekends in flagship parks.
“JCPZ is regularly running anti-litter awareness campaigns to appeal to the public to not litter in public spaces and to clean after themselves. Bins are provided through all parks and are emptied frequently.”
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