Melville residents joined CREASS Community Services on September 19 to tackle a growing dumping problem along Rustenburg Road.

The clean-up, organised by the Melville Residents Association physical environment team, focused on clearing litter, garden waste, overgrown vegetation and debris that had taken over parts of the roadside.

Read more: MRA join forces with CREASS Community Services

The effort was aimed at reclaiming the area and creating a safer passage for pedestrians, runners and cyclists. CREASS Community Services founder, Danny Nunes, said the organisation used resources already booked for the month to support the community initiative.

He said dumping was one of the biggest problems along the section of Rustenburg Road, with garden waste, domestic refuse and general litter among the material being removed. “People get frustrated, so they tend to just find anybody willing to take their refuse away from them, and a lot of these people just end up unfortunately dumping it at the roadside.”

The consequences went beyond an untidy roadside. Nunes said the rubbish and overgrown vegetation had begun taking over parts of the sidewalk, forcing pedestrians, runners and cyclists closer to the road. The clean-up also involved clearing stormwater channels, cutting back vegetation and removing a fallen tree that had blocked a pathway. For Nunes, however, the most encouraging part of the initiative was seeing residents getting involved. He believes the community is now going a step further by taking greater ownership of local problems instead of simply waiting for someone else to solve them.

“I think we’ve moved well beyond active citizenry and we’ve moved to a point where we are now taking citizenry ownership of our problems and our issues and finding solutions to them.”

The clean-up brought together Melville Residents Association chairperson Darryl Gouws, estate agents, residents and volunteers. CREASS also thanked Beagle Watch Environmental for supporting the clean-up along the stretch between Sabie Road and 3rd Avenue.

For CREASS team leader Anderson Mangena, the initiative was also about safety. He said clearing the roadside helped create a safer passage for people using the area. “We just want to maintain our safe passage on the roads so that at least we avoid those people who want to rob people and stuff,” Mangena said.

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His team was instructed to focus on removing litter and clearing the sides of the road, particularly where debris and rubbish were narrowing the available space. Mangena said clearing the sides could help create more room for traffic and pedestrians.

Mangena said seeing residents join the clean-up was encouraging, but he would like to see even more people becoming involved. He said having more volunteers would make the work easier and allow the community to cover larger areas.

The message from those involved was that keeping public spaces clean cannot be left to a handful of people. For the Melville residents and volunteers who spent the day clearing Rustenburg Road, the clean-up was a practical demonstration of community ownership: turning a dumping problem into an opportunity to restore a shared public space.

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