Refuse removal is taking place, says municipality

Date: 10 April 2020 By: Andries van Zyl

Despite a nationwide call for people to sharpen up on their personal hygiene and live more hygienically amidst the Covid-19 outbreak, the rubbish started piling up at homes and on street corners in Louis Trichardt.

This has been the case since the lockdown came into effect at midnight on 26 March. The main reason for this is the Makhado Municipality’s decision only to remove refuse at residential properties once every two weeks, but once every week at businesses.

As the garbage started piling up, many residents questioned the logic behind the municipality’s decision. They wanted to know why refuse removal was done at businesses once a week as most of the businesses in town had been forced to close because of the lockdown, while refuse removal would only take place once every two weeks at residential properties while everybody was forced to stay at home. “Much more rubbish is now generated at home with everybody being forced to stay there,” remarked one resident in a comment on the Zoutpansberger’s Facebook page.

By Tuesday this week, the volume of rubbish on streets corners and in residential areas had become an eyesore and many residents started wondering whether the municipality had not just decided to stay home and not perform any more of their essential services.

Upon enquiry, municipal spokesperson Mr Louis Bobodi was quick to respond to this allegation. “The process of refuse removal is taking place as we speak right now,” said Bobodi on Tuesday.

Bobodi was also asked to explain the rationale behind the municipality’s decision to only remove refuse at homes once every two weeks. “You must take into consideration that we scaled down the process and the workforce as we didn't want to expose our employees to this condition. But we remain resolute to providing our communities with services,” said Bobodi.

The Zoutpansberger took a quick drive through town on Wednesday morning and, sure enough, most of the rubbish that had been accumulating on street corners and at residential homes had been removed. At a few places in town heaps of refuse were still visible on street corners. In some places the municipal waste-removal truck had “missed” some rubbish, but this was sadly due to some residents’ dumping their trash in the town’s parks, such as the park opposite Soutpansberg Spar. Driving past the park at the Protea Street corner, a large number of black garbage bags were barely visible through the thick grass. It would seem that some residents’ solution to their garbage problem is merely “out of sight is out of mind”.   

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Andries van Zyl

Andries joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in April 1993 as a darkroom assistant. Within a couple of months he moved over to the production side of the newspaper and eventually doubled as a reporter. In 1995 he left the newspaper group and travelled overseas for a couple of months. In 1996, Andries rejoined the Zoutpansberger as a reporter. In August 2002, he was appointed as News Editor of the Zoutpansberger, a position he holds until today.

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