Operation Hloekisa, the Greater Alexandra clean-up which was supposed to end at the end of August was still behind schedule.

The community made it difficult for the clean-up to conclude as reesidents continued to leave their garbage in the street. City of Johannesburg spokesperson, Gideon Cruywagen said the volume of work was overwhelming and that contributed to the slowness of the clean-up. There had also been a shortage of garbage trucks.

He said the environment education programmes that the city council had initiated were not as successful as they had hoped. It appeared that the community would take time to learn about a cleaner environment.

Cruywagen said the density of the area had also made it difficult to complete the clean-up on time. “The clean-up will continue for an extra week to make sure that they finish on 22nd Avenue.”

He said there would have to be another operation of this kind in 2014, but for now normal cleaning and picking up of garbage by Pikitup would continue.