The residents of Phalaborwa have been encouraged to take up a different perspective on keeping their town clean.
President Cyril Ramaphosa appealed to South Africans to adopt and prepare a culture of cleanliness and to stop littering but to recycle waste on Friday, March 8.
This made the Phalaborwa Cleaning team; ‘Let’s make Phalaborwa Great Again’ feel it was time their actions were recognized by the Ba-Phalaborwa Mayor, Pule Shayi.
“This is not the first time the president appeals to South Africans and I remember I sent the mayor [Pule Shayi] an email with regard to the ‘Send Me’ campaign [Thuma mina] and nothing has been done,” said Marietjie Mare, chairperson of the ‘Let’s make Phalaborwa Great Again’ as she explained how unhappy she was that Phalaborwa was not in a good state.
Read: PHALABORWA: Operation town clean-up: ‘We are fed up’
On Friday, Ramaphosa said that it was largely adults who litter and that should come to a stop.
“We must get children, our children to teach us to stop. Soon after I learnt my lesson, from my children, I stopped, and I pick up litter wherever I found it. My security detail often gets worried about me when they see me wanting to pick up litter in the street,” said Ramaphosa as he went on to say that South Africans should live in clean towns, and a clean environment.
A few years ago, Phalaborwa had the status of the ‘cleanest town’ in South Africa but now the cleaning team does not believe the town is anywhere close to being a clean town.
Marietjie Mare wrote an open letter to the Ba-Phalaborwa Mayor, Pule Shayi, and it read:
“Good morning Mayor, I don’t know if I should be mad or sad, maybe both perhaps? A month ago I asked that the Municipality to get involved with cleaning of the area around the Green School for their big sports day today [Saturday]. An estimated 4000 spectators and 14 schools were participating. The only thing they did specifically for this event was the cutting of the weeds at the park and at the back of the school, nothing else. I really thought this would change since the same thing happened last year. I am helping them by having a team cleaning town.. I really don’t think this is the way I should be treated. So in the hot sun, I had to help sweep the road and clean it from loose sand and rocks which is not safe for motorist, on the corner of Mopani and Selati. Even CLR de Beer tried to get some help but to no avail. The Municipality should be ashamed of themselves.”
