Level Two shack dwellers in Graceland, Khayelitsha are threatening to take to the streets demanding the City clean the rubbish up in the area. They said it had been almost a month since the rubbish was last collected by the City.
Resident Mike Lavisa described the conditions they were living in as terrible. He said the community had decided to dump the rubbish along Walter Sisulu Road for people to see.
“The whole area is filthy. People are dumping rubbish everywhere. As residents we resolved to take our rubbish bags and dump them along the road. We want whoever is going there to see them.” Lavisa said what irked residents most was not being informed of any important decisions made affecting them, for instance, City cleaners suspending operations in the area, which had been the case for about a month.
Another resident, Mali Nxuku, said he and others were giving the City two weeks and decide then what to do further, depending. “The City must come clean to us. It is supposed to tell us what is going on. We are going to protest on the N2. We are not going to close our roads. We are going strew the N2 with burning tyres, as far as the airport.”
Ward 97 councillor Ryder Mkutswana said the problem of rubbish not being collected wasn’t just confined to his ward, but in Khayelitsha as a whole. He said the company that was working in the area had its contract terminated by the City owing to non-payment of workers.
“It has been almost a month since the City had terminated the Manande Cleaning Service’s contract. It doesn’t pay the workers. All councillors of affected wards wanted to engage with the City so it could collect the rubbish for now, but Manande workers refused demanding the company pay their money before a new company started operating here.” Mkutswana said he would engage with City officials about speeding up the appointment of a new service provider.
