Mayor Mzwandile Masina made a pledge to clear illegally dumped rubbish after he was witness to mountains of trash in Ramaphosa informal settlement on June 25.
Masina, with his executive committee members, descended on Ramaphosa as part of the City’s regular site visits to different areas across the City to inspect progress made on ongoing service delivery projects.
The latest visits by the mayor and his team focused on various service delivery projects, including electrification of informal settlements, housing, newly built fire stations and the state of cleanliness in the City.
During the visit, MMC for the Department of Environmental Resources and Waste Management Makhosazana Mabaso also ensured the mayor and the residents of Ramaphosa the City is now in a better position to tackle the scourge of illegal dumping.
ALSO READ: Illegal dumping can negatively affect your health
She said waste officials would ensure the waste that has been illegally deposited across the City would be transported and disposed of at suitably licensed facilities.
She reportedly acknowledged that the department had faced challenges with its procurement processes, which impeded the rate at which waste was being collected, resulting in waste removal debacles across the City.
“We have finalised all the tender processes to appoint service providers that will help improve waste removal services offered by the City. Therefore, as of July 1, it’s all systems go in terms of restoring our City to its former glory of a cleaner and greener one,” promised Mabaso.
She encouraged residents of Ramaphosa to adopt the culture of recycling to help them make money out of their recyclable waste products. She also asked residents to form cleaning groups dubbed as environmental champions to work with the City in keeping neighbourhoods clean.
Mabaso pointed out that the re-blocking programme in the informal settlement will allow waste removal trucks and TLBs to move in swiftly to remove all the illegally dumped waste in the area.
Locals recently complained about the growing scale of the waste removal crisis, which invited rodents and flies, making life unbearable for residents.
ALSO READ: Illegal dumping causes headache for residents
