Equestria resident claims that Metro condones dumping

Residents of Equestria are up in arms over the metro’s apparent clean-up around Libertas and other streets in December last year.

City spokesperson Lindela Mashigo told Rekord the metro had attended to the illegal dumping in December 2023.

“At the time the illegal dumping was attended to, the focus was on removing the waste which was on the road reserve to eliminate the risk of waste blocking the road for motorists. The metro is operating with limited resources which must be stretched to service all problematic areas in this region in the east,” said Mashigo.

He said clearing the road was an interim solution.

“The city has mobilised extra resources to attend to and clean the entire area. This will be done in the last week of February,” said Mashigo.

But residents are having none of these “empty promises”.

“There was action in December, yes, but all the metro did was to push all the rubbish into heaps. This actually made things worse. It actually appears now that it supports the area being used as a dumping site. I was actually not sure if it was the metro that did it, as it was only here for about half a day. I thought it might just have been a resident trying to do some good,” said businessman André Hugo.

He is of the opinion that the clearance was a waste of time and resources.

“It just created space for more dumping,” said Hugo.

Hugo is also agitated that the metro has not responded to his complaint he first made in October 2023.

He said the dumping has worsened.

“I have been in Equestria for 16 years. This has always been a problem. Whenever the metro does come around, it only pushes all the rubbish into heaps on the side of Libertas Street. It never actually cleans up. I have never seen action taken against offenders, even though I reported a few myself,” said Hugo.

He said during the strike things got so bad that the people started dumping in Brae Street, which had not been a problem before. He said the few times that dumping had occurred there, he could clear it up himself.

“But now it just became too much for me to do,” said Hugo.

“The residents and business people would really appreciate it if proper action can be taken for once. I keep the area in front my premises clean and tidy, and thus I very seldom have people dumping there. But because the metro never cleans up properly, it just encourages offenders to dump more,” said Hugo.

He said people tend to avoid dumping in areas that are maintained.

“But because there is already rubbish there, they will keep on dumping,” said Hugo.

Mashigo said the problem will not be left to worsen.

“Plans are in place to clear the rubbish. The city is making progress in addressing the backlog, and it is committing to attend to these streets in the last week of February,” said Mashigo.

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