The residents of Phalaborwa were fed up with the state of the town, so they decided to form a group of willing residents to clean it up themselves.
It was time again for the group, ‘Let’s Make Phalaborwa Great Again’, to jump into action, a group of people dedicated to keeping the town clean at all costs.
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On Wednesday, January 31, the group ventured onto the streets of Phalaborwa, Park Avenue, for their weekly clean up, an event which has been taking place every week for the last 10 months.
The team started working in town towards the end of March last year.
Speaking to one of the team members, Gail van Barkenhuizen, she told the Herald, “the residents of Phalaborwa were fed up with the state of our town, so we decided to form a group of willing residents to clean it up.”
The team had a meeting with Harold Zungu, the Senior Manager of Community and Social Services in the Ba-Phalaborwa Municipality, to ask for permission to clean up the town. Zungu had no problem with the idea, and in turn, the municipal workers would work with them.
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“Initially we had quite a few municipal workers who worked with us 4 times, and suddenly there were no more municipal workers to help us as they claimed they work on a scheduled basis,” van Barkenhuizen told the Herald.
She says in cleaning sections of the town they also found unsatisfactory items, such as used condoms.
“At one stage we were cleaning up Palm Avenue, sweeping the pavements and gutters which were blocked with broken alcohol bottles, we also trimmed trees,” she said.
The team went out of town to the entrance of the R71 road and they revamped the garden there, with donations of stones from Kallie Sullwald. In an attempt to get black plastic bags from the municipality, they failed because Zungu told them that the municipality could not supply bags because the municipality only receives 2000 bags a year for the whole of Ba-Phalaborwa.
“We now have to ask residents of Phalaborwa for donations of black bags and water,” she says. ‘Let’s Make Phalaborwa Great Again’, has now employed a permanent worker which they pay from their own pockets.
In addition, she said that the team would like to ask all the shops in town to clean their own pavements, even though it is the job of the municipality.
“Residents of Phalaborwa, if you have time, you are more than welcome to join us every Friday at 14:00, and if anyone has donations for black bags, gloves, and water please feel free to donate,” van Barkenhuizen
