Ward councillor and FBO make progress with cleaning campaign

The Faith-Based Organisation and Ward 44 committee have made progress with the plan to clean illegal dumping sites and create awareness about the issue in the township.

This follows after the groups initiated a clean-up campaign to address illegal dumping, which started at a public park near NUWE Apostolic Church on August 8.

According to the leader of FBO, Mandla Maseko, after cleaning up near the church, they were able to clean two other illegal dumping sites at Bethel Church, located at the corner of Gama and Mabanga streets, as well as Evangelical Church, located at Khari and Moagi streets.

He said at the moment the challenge they are facing is people continuing to dump even after the area has been cleaned.

“Mostly it is the people who live near these dumping sites who continue to dump. They say why can’t they have legal dumping sites as they complain that the dumping sites are far from their homes. As a result, when they get an opportunity to dump they use it, even though it is illegal,” said Maseko.

He said they often address these issues during public meetings in the ward to spread the message of eliminating illegal dumping sites.

“During public meetings, people say that they will watch each other to ensure that these challenges do not persist, but when we go back to those areas we find that they have started dumping things,” said Maseko.

“They do not do it during the day. It starts at night and then other people also join. Before you know it, it develops into an illegal dump site again.”

He said the first site they cleaned is showing positive results because of the support from the community.

Kathorus MAIL spoke to the MMC of Environmental Resource and Waste Management, Andre du Plessis, during his visit to Mogobeng Primary School for Arbor Day on September 23.

KM asked du Plessis what his office is doing to address the issue of illegal dumping in the township because the local newspaper has been receiving complaints about illegal dumping and the lack of resources to address it.

Du Plessis said that they are working on a programme that they are rolling out with councillors to address the issue. However, he emphasised that they have to treat the cause, not the symptoms.

“We are asking councillors to identify illegal dumping hot spots in their wards. As the department, we will go out to clean those hot spots. But then we want the buy-in from councillors and their ward committee to adopt that area and keep it clean for us,” said du Plessis.

He said another programme that they are going to roll out intends to provide residents with wheelie bins.

“We have to get more wheelie bins out to the residents. Some residents do not have enough wheelie bins and we have to treat the cause not the symptoms; we cannot forever be cleaning up. People are generating more waste and they do not have receptacles to put them in,” he continued.

“Furthermore, apart from that, there are no recycling programmes which is why we would like schools to have recycling programmes so that people can bring the recyclables to the school. It lessens the amount of waste that is generated and has to go to the landfill sites.”

He said after cleaning they have to put a maintenance programme in place.

“We are already starting in Thembisa as we speak. We have to budget for it so we are asking councillors to do their due diligence homework to find out where the areas and residents are.

“We are also doing a service point audit, which means if there is a home with four backyard shacks, perhaps we should give them two wheelie bins. But we have to identify them and the best people to do that are the councillors and the ward committee. Once they identify them we can bring the wheelie bins to the people.”

Du Plessis explained that the important thing about receiving a wheelie bin is that it has to be on the billing system because there is a tariff attached to it.

“If you want two wheelie bins you can have them but you will be charged for two. We hand them out for free but you are billed for it on a monthly bases,” he concluded.

Maseko said they welcome the idea and view it as a solution as he explained that if they can get the bins it will help the community to easily dispose of their waste.

He said the community needs to work together to keep their area clean despite the difficulties.

“Another thing is that the refuse removal vehicle only comes once a week and you would find that some people are at work and did not take out their bins on time. They end up throwing their waste on these illegal dumping sites.”

Councilor Nkosinathi Shongwe said they are still continuing with the clean-up campaign along with the FBO. They have also been joined by an NPO called Hand in Hand, which is a national youth service agency that runs leadership programs focusing on the environment.