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Johannesburg's municipal entities have been on service delivery drives throughout the CBD in recent months.
A littered street corner in the Johannesburg CBD. Picture: X / @CityofJoburgZA
The Johannesburg municipality has made a significant dent in the mounds of trash lining the inner city’s streets.
Weekly service delivery drives were launched in early 2024 by Mayor Dada Morero, and this weekend marked some significant milestones.
However, those living in the CBD say the drives have made little difference to life in the increasingly dilapidated concrete maze.
The inner-city clean-up project operates under the banner, “Reimagining Joburg through the eyes of residents” by focusing on vandalism, hijacked buildings and by-law infringements.
As well as mass clean-up operations, multi-departmental teams attend to streetlights, stormwater drains and potholes, while trying to encourage residents to contribute to a clean environment.
Trash and litter covering Johannesburg’s pavements has been a notable eyesore, but the city boasts that a remarkable amount of rubbish — one million kilogrammes — has left the CBD since the start of the year.
“Pikitup removed 1 000 tonnes of waste in hotspots like [Marshalltown] while conducting street sweeping and emptying skip bins,” the city stated.
The figure is a fraction of the waste the municipality generates, with city officials confirming on Tuesday that the greater Johannesburg region generates roughly 1.6 billion kilogrammes of waste annually.
Additionally, Johannesburg Roads Agency cleared over 150 stormwater drains and repaired over 100 potholes, and City Power repaired over 500 streetlights and disconnected over 200 illegal connections in roughly four months.
City Parks cleared overgrown vegetation, Johannesburg Water addressed leaks and bursts, while social development profiled and relocated displaced people to city shelters.
Resident and ActionSA PR councillor in the CBD, Zark Lebatlang said he was happy attention was being paid to the CBD, but was not convinced it would revive its fortunes.
“It looks good on the pictures, but in terms of a sustainable programme to deal with the issue of cleaning up the CBD, there is no clear impact,” Lebatlang told The Citizen.
The councillor explained that spaza shops and informal traders were among the chief polluters of the city, saying the shops were not regulated, and that owners disregarded by-laws.
He said spaza shops needed to be stopped from dumping their rubbish in alleys and on corners, and championed Hernan Mashaba’s discarded A Re Sebetseng programme.
“But you don’t do it on a temporary basis, you need to be aggressive, and I think empowering residents on taking ownership of cleaning their areas is the first thing you need to do,” said Lebatlang.
“[With shop owners], you fine them, you close down their shops, you ensure they are following environmental regulations and not contributing to the litter in the CBD,” he suggested.
In the last four months, the Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department has held 36 joint law enforcement operations, during which 331 properties have been inspected.
The properties included licensed premises, mini supermarkets, corner shops, vehicle repair shops, and several high-rise buildings that had been converted into shopping centres.
At these premises, 517 infringements were found, leading to the closure of non-compliant buildings and the seizure of illegal goods.
“Many buildings were found operating without approved plans or with illegal utility connections,” stated the municipality this weekend.
Crime is a constant concern for Lebatlang and all Johannesburg residents, and he suggested a rethinking of crime-fighting strategies was necessary if the city was to thrive.
“The city needs an overhaul in terms of interventions from law enforcement, the security pillar and when it comes to service delivery,” he said.
“If you are not going to do all of that, you’re still just going to scratch the surface,” he concluded.
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