Residents from the Messiah section in Kosovo informal settlement, Samora Machel, are appealing to the City to intervene and clean up the area. They say it has been more than three months since waste was last collected as refuse collectors have allegedly been subjected to extortion from young criminals in the area.

A community leader in Messiah, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said the area is the only one in Kosovo where rubbish was not being collected for this reason. Rubbish was piling up in containers and being discarded on the streets, the leader pointed out.

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Messiah section goes three months without rubbish collection

“In this section we have a problem with young men demanding money from the cleaning company working in the area. They no longer clean in Messiah, but still operates in other parts of Kosovo. It has been more than three months since rubbish was collected here.”

The source said the ward councillor was aware of the situation. He noted that there was an agreement with the City that when collection trucks came to the area they would be accompanied by Law Enforcement officers.

“The rubbish used to be collected twice a week. But there are instances where the trucks do not come because the Law Enforcement officers are unavailable due to other commitments. We are living on God’s grace here.”

Community fears reporting criminals

Asked by City Vision whether any extortion-related incidents had been reported to the local police, the Messiah community leader said this would never happen since there was a mistrust of the officers. “The extortion issue is very complicated. You don’t just talk about it to anyone. I don’t trust our law enforcement, including our leaders.”

Ward 88 councillor Zukisani Sophazi confirmed he was aware of the uncollected waste in Messiah and that City officials were attending to the matter.

“I know about the problem facing the Messiah residents. I was there with Mayco member for urban waste management, Grant Twigg, who a fortnight ago listened to their grievances. He vowed to look into the problem and return to the community with feedback,” Sophazi said, though, he wasn’t sure when Twigg would follow-up.

Extortion allegations remain unverified

He said allegations that the cleaning company had stopped working in Messiah because of extortionists were merely a rumour, for no-one had formally reported it to him.

“I heard about that — the extortionists — but when we raised it in the meeting no-one came forward. We took it to be a rumour.”