Youths clean up ‘filthy’ part of Pretoria
"It is better to try to fix a burst sewerage pipe ourselves than live in a stinking environment for the rest of our lives."
A growing garbage problem all over Salvokop has prompted local youths to embark on a massive clean-up drive on Saturday.
“We cannot sit back and fold our arms while children and community members are at high risk of getting diseases from this unhealthy environment,” one of Salvokop youth interim leaders Sabatha Matlou told Rekord.
Matlou said the youth had opted to hold regular clean-up campaigns to keep the area clean.
“We have decided to clean our area every second and last weekend of the month.”
The youths said littering has been an issue in the area for “several years”, thanks to neglect by the authorities.
“Our area has been disgusting for as long as I can remember,” she said.
ALSO READ: Local youngsters challenge others to clean up
They were, however, grateful that the Tshwane metro has come on board and helped them with their clean-up campaign.
“The metro helped us with refuse plastic bags, gloves, metro employees and a truck to load the waste.”
They are still worried about a sewerage leak along First Street, which according to Matlou, “has been a problem for years”.
Photo: Ron Sibiya
Matlou said the Salvokop youth would not embark on a violent protest or vandalise any property to force the metro to repair the burst sewer pipe because they valued the “little” infrastructure they had.
“We know the pain of struggling to acquire better services from the municipality, therefore destroying property is not our option at this stage.”
She said the locals would rather repair whatever is broken, such as the burst sewer pipe, even if they did not have the necessary expertise to do so.
“But it is better to try to fix a burst sewerage pipe ourselves than live in a stinking environment for the rest of our lives.”
Photo: Ron Sibiya
Matlou said the relatively new Salvokop youth structure would first request the Tshwane metro to attend to the burst sewerage problem before considering other possible solutions.
ALSO READ: Hennops clean up a raging success
Former ward 60 councillor Fortune Mampuru denied that Salvokop had been dirty for several years.
“The problem started during the municipal workers’ strike at the beginning of the lockdown,” Mampuru said.
He also said the issue was a result of other problems such as people not having adequate dustbins.
The Tshwane metro was yet to comment at the time of publication.
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