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News - Date: 29 July 2011
Laat Lente and Herfsakker in Louis Trichardt have a history of struggle with the Makhado Municipality to render effective service, particularly in the areas of refuse collection and sanitation. The Makhado Municipality denied any problem with refuse collection last week.
On July 17, Mr. Ron and Ms. Hester Faber of Laat Lente took their small Renault, nicknamed ‘Vlooi’, and stacked awful-smelling trash bags into the boot. They managed to stack their refuse and those of the neighbouring houses in their ‘street’ and removed them to the dumping site.
“We moved in here three-and-a-half years ago and, since then, this situation of no regular waste collection had been going on. The last time when the Zoutpansberger published a photo of the refuse, the municipality responded. That was in February. But then the refuse collection died out. We pay for service delivery but get no results,” Mr. Faber said.
Adding to their woes is the fact that the garden refuse heap is adjacent to their house. Out of desperation, some residents dump their household refuse on the garden refuse heap, and now the Fabers get many unwelcome visitors in the form of rats that can carry and transmit diseases.
“We don’t see the municipality and neither do we see the Democratic Alliance. Have they all turned their backs on us?” asked another resident.
Ms. Hester Venter of Herfsakker balanced her refuse bags on the wall. “You never know when the municipality will come. In the past it was on a Tuesday or a Thursday. Now it can even be on a Sunday. I have to stack the refuse on the wall, otherwise the dogs get at them, but the bags sometimes fall over,” Ms. Venter said.
The recent neglect of refuse collection was brought to the attention of the Zoutpansberger on July 18 and questions were posed to the Makhado Municipality. No answers came forward last week, but fortunately, much to the relief of the residents, the refuse was collected on Tuesday, July 19.
This week the municipality responded.
“There is no problem of collecting refuse from the old age home,” reads the statement by spokesperson, Mr Louis Bobodi. He did admits that there “was no mechanism in place to ascertain whether the drivers were collecting the refuse from the old age home or not”.
A positive point was the commitment to regular removal.
“Waste Management, Parks and Recreation Sections are committed to remove refuse as per schedules, however, to make sure that refuse is removed as planned, monitoring by supervisors will be done whereby they will have to sign a logbook certifying the refuse removal. Three plastic bags will be supplied during the collection and it will also be verified on the same day to confirm the supply. Both garden and household waste must be removed every week, as per schedules, garden waste or refuse should be removed on Thursdays and household on Tuesdays,” reads the statement.
When asked about the problems with leaking toilets and the upgrading of the ablution block for domestic workers at the municipal old age housing, the answer was that ” it is not the responsibility of the Municipality as it is a private institution”. This comment game as a surprise as it seems the Makhado Municipality is unable to distinguish between their municipal housing at Laat Lente and Herfsakker and the private institution, Ons Tuiste.
Linda van der Westhuizen has been with Zoutnet since 2001. She has a heart for God, people and their stories. Linda believes that every person is unique and has a special story to tell. It follows logically that human interest stories is her speciality. Linda finds working with people and their leaders in the economic, educational, spiritual and political arena very rewarding. “I have a special interest in what God is doing in our town, province and nation and what He wants us to become,” says Linda.
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