“The people who pass by always drop litter in the little corner outside my shop,” she says with great concern “and the metro does not even take our refuse on refuse removal days.”
Schutte, whose business is situated on the corner of Irving Steyn and Regent streets, says the municipal refuse collectors overlook the black bags of refuse outside her shop and expect her to pay R20 to remove them.
“When they come past to collect the refuse, I end up having to pay them R20, just so they can take my bags, otherwise the bags will just stay here, which is very unhealthy, especially because I run a beauty shop,” she says.
Schutte further explains that she has not received bins in which she can put her refuse, which she has raised with the municipal workers, as she believes this is part of the reason why they do not take her refuse, and they have since disregarded her concern.
“They don’t care,” she says, “they just overlook my refuse, unless I pay them R20. I have even had one of my friends run after the refuse removal truck in an attempt to get my refuse taken.”
“They take other people’s refuse bags, but not mine.”
Another great issue of concern for Schutte, is the broken streetlights, which leave the area very dark at night.
“It is very dark when I drive home at night, which is a serious safety hazard,” she says. “We are women only at the shop, so when it is so dark at night, how can we ensure that we will not fall victim to crime?”
She also explains that there is always a lot of suspicious activity in the parking lot outside her shop, and expresses great fear of what might befall her at any given point.
“There are always strange things happening outside the parking lot,” she says, “so we never know if we are being watched and the police often patrol here, but do nothing.”
Schutte believes that more needs to be done by the metro with regards to safety, service delivery, and ensuring that residents and business owners of the area are safe and treated fairly in terms of service delivery.
“It is not fair that we should be treated like this, as I pay my rent, which covers rates and taxes,” she says.
Enquiries have been sent to the Ekurhuleni Metro and we are awaiting feedback.
