Residents roll up their sleeves on Freedom Day
Community members say they want to turn an illegal dumping site into a community park. They all participated in a clean-up campaign on Freedom Day.
While the country celebrated Freedom Day on Tuesday, residents of Section B2 in Mamelodi West had other ideas.
Instead of celebrating, they rolled up their sleeves and got their hands dirty by taking part in the community clean-up campaign at Golele Street, next to the hostel blocks in Mamelodi West.
One of the organisers, Ernest Masemola, said it was about time they took care of their environment.
The issue of illegal dumping in the community has driven the residents of section B2 to embark on the clean-up campaign.
“We all agreed that we need to take care of our environment,” said Masemola.
The clean-up campaign started at 09:00 and ended late.
“We were tired of the stench and we also wanted to educate community members about littering,” said Masemola.
“Non-service delivery is the main cause of illegal dumping sites around Mamelodi.”
More than 200 residents participated in the clean-up effort, including small children.
Masemola said the residents brought their own tools to remove and burn rubbish.
“It is up to us as residents to take care of our environment,” said Jabu Rebese, another resident.
He agreed that non-service delivery was the main cause of illegal dumping sites on street corners.
“Illegal dumping puts our health at risk and we all have small children in our community,” said Shakes Manzini.
“The stench coming from illegal dumping sites affect mostly residents staying nearby the hostel blocks.
“Some of the residents can’t open their windows because of the stench and flies and are complaining about mosquito bites,” said Manzini.
“The illegal dumping also attracts rats.”
Ernest Manzini bought waste plastic bags with his own money for the clean-up campaign.
The residents said they are planning to start a community park and they will need to plant trees and decorate the areas with tyres.
Do you have more information about the story?
Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram
