Rubbish is accummulating on the streets of Masiphumelele. Photo: Thembela Ntongana
13 January 2017
Rubbish has been piling up in Masiphumelele’s streets throughout the festive season and still has not been removed.
The City of Cape Town has confirmed that the tender for cleaning and refuse removal in Masiphumelele and various other suburbs expired on 31 December 2016.
Priya Reddy, spokesperson for the City, says a new tender has been awarded and the new contractors will commence on 1 February 2017. She said contingency measures had been taken to start cleaning the township this week, but as of this morning GroundUp saw no evidence of this.
Ronald Banda stays opposite a road where piles of rubbish have been thrown. The smell is unbearable is unbearable when you walk up the road. “I complained in December [to the City] but nothing was done. The people did not come to collect the rubbish and it just kept getting worse and worse,” he said.
Banda complained again this year and on Wednesday was told that it would take seven working days for the issue to be sorted. “It smells because people throw all sort of stuff here. It’s so dirty. Dogs come and eat from there and there are children that play there which is not healthy. There is crèche just there. What if the children get sick because of that?” asked Banda.
Another resident said that the street cleaning stopped way before the end of December and that even rubbish collection was not done frequently. “People need to take responsibility as well for throwing the rubbish like that, but the City also needs to realise that when bins are not collected people will do such things because not everyone has the resources to go to a dumping site which is far from their homes,” she said.
“The City currently has a team of workers and mechanical sweepers working in Masiphumelele,” said Reddy.