For months, Lonehill and Paulshof residents watched a growing mound of waste at the Clay Oven informal settlement, raising repeated alarms about potential health hazards and environmental risks.
Despite several attempts to secure assistance from the City of Johannesburg, their calls went unanswered. Until yesterday, when Gauteng MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development Vuyiswa Ramokgopa intervened.

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The clean-up operation, conducted with trucks, skips, and heavy machinery, followed a formal request from the community matters committee, a sub-committee of the Lonehill Residents Association, who escalated their concerns through the RISE Mzansi legislature office when municipal responses stalled.

Shelly Miller, speaking on behalf the LRA’s community matters committee, said residents were relieved to finally see action. “We’re grateful to see that MEC Ramokgopa and her team walked the talk. They arrived with the necessary equipment and fulfilled what had been promised. The area has now been cleaned.

“Following, a site meeting was held at Clay Oven [informal settlement] with community leaders, members of the LRA’s community matters committee, and a team from the Department of Environmental Health.”
Ramokgopa noted that this clean-up aligns with her department’s soon-to-be-launched cleaning and food growing programme, which will target several communities across the province, but the intervention has not gone without criticism. Some residents questioned whether the clean-up was politically motivated, ahead of next year’s elections, a claim the MEC firmly rejected. “We are no strangers to communities like Lonehill. Our mission is to serve people, and we have demonstrated that through our ongoing engagement. This work is part of long-term community support, not political timing.”

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She also acknowledged broader systemic challenges, pointing to a lack of political will in some spheres of local government. “By-law enforcement and basic service delivery cannot be neglected to the point where rivers and public areas become dumping sites. Communities need leadership that acts.” This wasn’t the first clean-up initiative she’s led in the region.

@caxtonjoburgnorth WATCH: At Clay Oven informal settlement, Gauteng MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development Vuyiswa Ramokgopa warns that illegal dumping has become a growing crisis across the city, saying her department is pushing for tougher enforcement and co-ordinated clean-up efforts. Video: Supplied #Clayoven #Ward93 ♬ original sound – Caxton Joburg North

Fourways Review followed up, asking what concrete, long-term results have previous operations achieved, and how Ramokgopa will ensure today’s efforts don’t fade once the cameras leave?

In her response, Ramokgopa said they have engaged various city MMC’s, as well as the mayor, through the legislature office, and have seen some progress in some of the issues, including the misuse of rivers and public spaces in Paulshof. “Paulshof is, in fact, one of the communities we are going to be assisting. We have already engaged the residents there, at one of our meetings, and continue to provide constant feedback on what work will be done, and by when.”

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