Most people do not even want to get up before sunrise to go to work, but Chuma Kwakweni gets up before the sun every morning to pick up other people’s rubbish. The mother of three has been doing this for years, and she does this without remuneration other than to see her community clean.
It all started five years ago when she noticed all the rubbish around her children’s school. Chuma was disgusted because her children had to spend most of their day there, in between the rubble. So instead of complaining she did something about it.
She and her children spent their weekdays and weekends cleaning up the school.
I did it for the love of it. But once I was done I thought to myself, if I could do it at the school, why not everywhere?”
Chuma explained that she wanted her kids to grow up in a clean, healthy environment. She approached the parks department and asked them whether they would remove the rubbish she had picked up and placed at the side of the road, and they agreed.
In the past five years she had cleaned up many illegal dumping sites in and around not only Munsieville but the whole of Krugersdorp.
So every morning Chuma with the help of some volunteers picks up the rubbish the rest of the community dumped illegally. She places it into trash bags that she buys herself, and leaves them at the side of the road to be removed. Because she does this free of charge, she said her volunteers don’t last long. Free labour does not put food on the table.
Most recently she has been cleaning a dumping site near the corner of Van Riebeeck Road and Robert Broom Drive. Cleaning up one of these dumping sites takes time, and she believes that if she had sponsors she could get someone to supervise the sites.
Councillor Shenan Cochrane who supports Chuma, explained that the dream is to get businesses to make use of Chuma and her team to clean up their area and then give them a donation.
Because things like building rubble cannot be removed in a black trash bag, Chuma would need a bakkie to remove the larger rubble. She hopes that one day she will be able to start a cleaning business because she loves what she does. She would like to get a space she could use and maybe open a small recycling centre for the community as well.
You think of your own kids and what we leave behind for them when they grow up,” Chuma said.
Shenan also had the idea of getting Chuma to do anti-litter talks at schools in the community, and said that if we taught the children not to litter maybe that would help towards a cleaner community.
