HAVELOCK Settlement in Greenwood Park recently received a major clean-up where a rubbish heap about ten metres long was cleared after four years.
“The settlement itself was tidy,” said Thembelani Lindo Ntuli, who is a community leader.
“The only issue was a pile of rubbish that had multiplied over the years since 2019.”
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“There was a fire in 2019 where 315 shacks burnt down. All the rubble was accumulated and dumped. We had an arrangement with someone from the DSW KwaMashu depot, but he died of Covid so the pile of rubbish kept growing as we had nobody to contact anymore,” said Ntuli.
Since then, Ntuli said he and other community leaders had tried to get someone else from DSW to remove the rubbish.
“Eventually, we decided to initiate a clean-up and contacted DSW to assist. Yandisa Xaba from DSW came through with tools, and the community got involved in the clean-up,” he said.
Since 2019, the dump, which was mainly rubble in the beginning, ended up with other household items, such as glass bottles and even electronics.
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“There were well over 100 black bags that DSW collected. The rubbish pile itself, which actually became a mini dump, was over ten metres in length,” he added.
He said residents used the piece of land for dumping because the skip is situated quite a distance away for some.
“What we want to implement is pick-up points throughout the settlement and have one person at each point who will be compensated, by whoever is utilising the service, for taking the rubbish to the skip,” he said.
“We would like to use this piece of land for something constructive like a park for the children to play in and for residents to gym,” said Ntuli.
“I was born and raised here. This is my home. I want us as community leaders to make the right decisions so that future generations can benefit,” he added.
If anyone would like to sponsor the use of a TLB, contact Ntuli on 068 597 0178.
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