Alexandra residents target hotspots with clean-up initiative
Volunteers say the work is only half the battle, they want residents to stop undoing it.
Volunteers in Alexandra are spending their own money to clean illegal dumping hotspots, but a local leader says poor community co-operation is undermining their efforts.
Greater Alexandra Block by Block secretary Khensani Tshabalala appealed to residents on September 23 to stop littering and polluting spaces cleared by volunteers. “We are going to target where there are illegal dumping hotspots and we will clean there. This is what we do every Wednesday,” she said.
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The campaign is not a one-off effort confined to a single ward. Volunteers rotate from ward to ward, Tshabalala said, but despite the progress, Tshabalala is concerned by a reluctance among some residents to keep the community clean. “When I went back to 8th Avenue where we were cleaning, it looked as if we did not clean at all,” she said.
This behaviour makes constant clean-ups necessary and discourages others from taking part because they believe the effort will not bring lasting change. Tshabalala said the issue comes down to respect for those who invest their time in cleaning initiatives. “My plea to the community is to please respect us,” Tshabalala said. “We are struggling as it is with plastic bags and brooms. We buy them for ourselves.”
Also read: Operation Hloekisa to clean up Alex
Some volunteers are unemployed, she noted, yet still contribute their own money to keep the campaign going. “They want Alexandra clean, especially for health reasons. For our children,” she said. She also appealed to local businesses to support the group with masks, brooms or gloves.
Ntombizodwa Sithole, who has volunteered to clean the community for years, said she was glad to see residents turn out in numbers. “It makes me very happy to see people taking care of the place they live in. It shows that they are tired of living in a dirty place,” she said. She hopes the volunteers are setting a good example for the young people who look up to them, and that children will learn not to litter.
Resident Lebogang Phiri said the results are visible. Dumping sites that rot and smell, and eventually make people sick, are being dealt with through the campaign. “When we have cleaned up, there is safety for children from sicknesses,” he said.
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