Where are the refuse collectors?

GOTHATAONE MOENG
Staff Writer | Tuesday June 28, 2011 00:00

 

Garbage in residential areas in the city had started piling up during the strike, due to an absence of some Gaborone City Council (GCC) workers. Public service workers are back at work now, however, this has not translated to a clean city. Garbage disposal has now descended into a free-for-all where all residents do what suits them best.

A resident of Extension 10 told Mmegi in an interview that during the strike, her household garbage was collected only once, and before it was collected this past Sunday, it had been accumulating for three weeks. In other areas, residents whose household litter has accumulated travel from where they live to residential complexes such as the Block 5 Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC) flats to dump their garbage in the large garbage skips.

People in residential areas along the Western By-pass had long resorted, as a way of escaping the stench and inevitable flies in their homes, to leaving their garbage along the busy highway. This prompted Skip Hire to donate skips to the city council, and to collect the garbage on the Western By-pass free of charge.

Some resourceful people have also resorted to offering their garbage collecting services. In Block 6, a man offers to collect garbage for P13 per rubbish bag. However, GCC spokesperson Seeletso Lekgaba told Mmegi that 'garbage collection is ongoing.

It always has, even when the strike was on. The only thing may be the backlog which makes the situation look as if nothing much is being done.' Lekgaba also said the council is currently putting measures in place to stabilise the situation. These include 'extending working hours, engaging casual labourers and outsourcing of collection of skips,' she said.

However, Lekgaba apologised for the situation and asked the public to desist from taking 'household litter to the public domain'. 'This will not solve but exacerbate the problem as litter is better managed within our homes,' she said.