GOOD Statement by Lulama Benge,
GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor
4 August 2023
The lack of waste collection across Cape Town’s informal settlements once again highlights the inequalities of the city.
Khayelitsha, Delft, Wallacedene, Driftsands, Fairdale, Dunoon, Atlantis, Philippi, Gugulethu and Langa have been left living in their own rubbish, as the city of Cape Town fails to fulfil its obligations for refuse removal.
Residents have had little or no refuse removal since 1 July 2023.
Not only is the smell overwhelming, but the piles of rubbish pose a serious health risk to the community.
Children have been seen playing with rotting food and dirty nappies.
The GOOD party can’t help but notice that the list of affected areas does not include suburbs occupied by affluent DA supporters.
It has been reported that the previous refuse collection supplier’s contract ended at the end of June but a new supplier has not started to render services.
Sadly, it looks like there is no deadline for this issue to be resolved.
The City of Cape Town Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Waste Management Grant Twigg says “Unfortunately there are simply not enough staff available to realistically compensate for (the) absence of normal planned programmes currently.”
GOOD urges the city to be transparent and provide the community with long-term solutions to get the refuse collection back on track.
Instead of focusing on issuing service delivery to marginalized and underprivileged areas, the DA-led city is rather focusing on fining people for dumping or littering.
The new Urban Waste Management By-laws saw a total of 205 fines amounting to R548,700 issued to illegal dumpers during May and June 2023, and 112 people were fined for littering to the tune of R56,000 for the same period.
It is a double blow for the residents of the city’s informal settlements.
They have been neglected and left living in their own rubbish, and potentially face fines for doing so.
Media Enquiries:
Lulama Benge, GOOD City of Cape Town Councillor
Cell: 060 688 8384
Email: lulamab@forgood.org.za
Samantha Jackson, GOOD Acting Media Manager
Cell: 083 550 9875
Email: media@forgood.org.za