The City of Tshwane has expressed concern about littering in the Pretoria CBD as well as other areas around the capital. Authorities have found widespread littering even in areas where there are dustbins.
The same pattern has been observed with regards to urinating, that people, mostly men, would pee anywhere and everywhere including next to public toilets but never inside the toilets.
“The hawkers who sell around here are contributing to this area being dirty. As you can see people who sell food all dump their water and their leftovers in this drain and that’s the reason why this drain keeps on blocking so I want to call on residents of Tshwane to contribute making the city clean and a clean city won’t come when we have such behaviour,” said Mayoral Committee Member responsible Environmental and Agriculture Management Obakeng Ramabodu about a spot in the CBD notorious for blockages of drain water storms.
He expressed frustration at what the city deems to be under usage of dustbins.
“This is not how our city must be and we are going to make sure that we contribute and work very hard togetheto get the best city ever. So the issue that I spoke about of the waste bin. Here is the evidence of the waste bin.thatthey just throw things here,” he said..
Ramabodu leads the city’s clean up campaign that started when the current coalition government took over in October and often joins municipal employees when they clean.
Ramabodu acknowledged that cleaning alone may not be enough, that the city may need to educate the public about the need for a clean environment.
“What we need to do is to make sure that we work together with the municipality and we don’t litter and we don’t do such things after they are done, they just dump this thing here.And if it’s left like this, it’s going to pile and pile. The next day when you pass here, you are told that the city is dirty. So this kind of behaviour, I’m going to take it above and I’m going to respond accordingly. Probably next week, we are going to make sure that we come to this area and give these people information and educate them,” said the MMC.
While the city is concerned about the non usage of public waste bins Ramabodu admits that there’s also not enough of them and said R 7 million has been set aside for the purchase of more of them.
“Because all the streets here, there are no waste bins and we are happy that in this financial year, we have allocated a budget of seven million to make sure that we cover all the regions.It may not be enough but we are going to make sure that we deliver in terms of making sure that all our streets have waste bins,” he said.
On friday the city handed out hundreds of new waste bins to residents for household use. The cleanup which has drawn praise for Pretoria as compared to other cities is being carried out alongside by-law enforcement which has made the capital remarkably clean and generally orderly with motorists parking only in designated spots while those who don’t (usually visitors) have their vehicles impounded.
Mayor Nasiphi Moya said during a previous media briefing that the cleanup was also aiding the city’s crime fighting efforts.
“Of course when you have a clean environment, it then becomes easier to ensure that there’s law and order,” said Moya. The DA has meanwhile unleashed a series of bot social media accounts on the city and has dismissed the current coalition’s service delivery drive as nothing more than an electioneering campaign, a claim rejected outright by the new administration which is led by by the ANC, includes, the EFF as well as Action SA and ended an 8 year dominance of the blue party.
“We are not doing it for ourselves, we are not doing it for the vote, we don’t even know when are the elections.We want our capital city back from where it was taken by the democratic alliance that has messed it up for many years, over eight years.
While restoring the dignity of the people of Mapopane, Soshanguve, Ga-Rankua, Hamanskral, Bronghortspruit, Olivenhoutbosch and all the areas, St.Jerome, Waterkloof, Brooklyn, all the seven regions in the city,” said Ramabodu in his rebuttal of the DA.