Johannesburg - The good citizens of Joburg have been a godsend this weekend, becoming the volunteer force behind a call for people to pitch in to clean the scourge of filth left in the streets by protesting Pikitup employees over the past weeks.
But while about 1 000 volunteers spent their Easter Friday cleaning inner-city streets, Mayor Parks Tau was not faced with any of the stink or stench spilling onto the streets in his suburb of Winchester Hills.
The city’s contingency plans for emergency clean-up in the aftermath of repeated dirty-tactic protests is costing Pikitup R1 million a day. While the schedule kicks it, some suburbs will benefit as townships like Alexandra are drowning in waste.
Though the mayor’s suburb is not first up on the clean-up roster, his streets in Winchester Hills remain squeaky clean, with neat wheelie bins awaiting pick-up.
And meanwhile the stench health risks and the environmental hazards are becoming serious concerns in Alex. Huge heaps of rubbish line a 2km stretch of Wynberg Road and goats ravage the garbage that the township appears to be drowning in.
Alex resident Ntombiyomuzi Datsile said they have had enough of the dirt plaguing their township.
“Every time we try to clean up, Pikitup employees intimidate us and throw garbage back onto the streets. Our children are getting sick from all the grime. It is right next to our communal taps and toilets. We can’t avoid it.”
Volunteers have not been deterred by the bureaucracy of schedules or even the protesters’ demands.
Their primary aim is simply to restore the city to some state of normality. On Friday, the volunteers, clad in casual clothes and some in overalls, moved along Joburg’s dirty roads with brooms, spades and refuse bags. The volunteers grouped themselves in numbers of 50 and each group was allocated a street.
“We are not here to replace the Pikitup guys. The city is filthy and the City has been asking for willing members from different wards in the city to volunteer their day to cleaning the streets,” says a woman co-ordinating a group that cleaned Pixley Seme Street, where Luthuli House is located. The volunteer did not want to be named.
“We are a community and don’t want our children to play in dirty streets. Tourists also visit our city - we want it to look presentable.”
Friday was a good day for the volunteers to clean, because it was a public holiday.
“We knew Pikitup workers would not be around to intimidate us. We are avoiding a fight with them, or any situation that could end in violence.”
Ward councillors from about nine wards in and around the city mobilised the volunteers.
“Until all issues with Pikitup are resolved, we may be called upon to come and clean again.”
The volunteers started cleaning at about 11am and had left by 5pm. The city said the clean-up would continue over the long weekend.
City manager Trevor Fowler said that resources, including manpower and equipment, have been increased for the clean-up.
He called on community organisations and residents to help keep the city clean by downloading the Johannesburg Road Agency (JRA) Find and Fix app.
The app was launched in May 2014 and was initially used to report potholes, faulty traffic lights, blocked storm water drains, missing or damaged manhole covers, but now users can also use it to report garbage piling up or illegal dumping sites.
The City has joined forces with the metro police to escort and protect the waste collection service providers. Pikitup on Friday called on volunteers in the security sector, including neighbourhood watches and community policing forums, to assist them.
Pikitup spokesman Jacky Mashapu said on Friday that the entity hadn’t received enough of these volunteers to provide security for the clean-up operations.
“As soon as we receive a reasonable number of security sector volunteers, we will begin more operations.”
Pikitup has also asked communities and business owners to drop off their waste at landfill sites.
Mayor Parks Tau and the MMC for Infrastructure Services and Environment, councillor Matshidiso Mfikoe, said the city remained firm that unprotected work stoppages and trashing of the streets by Pikitup employees affiliated to the SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) could never be justified.
They said the City remained committed to an agreement that was brokered between Samwu and the provincial government last year which includes, among others, workers being fairly treated and compensated.
* Residents can report garbage hotspots to a 24-hour hotline number: 011 286 6009 or e-mail: [email protected]
The hotline number can also be used by community organisations to request cleaning tools, gloves and refuse bags for community led clean-ups and removal of bagged waste by Pikitup.
Saturday Star
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