Pretoria - The City of Tshwane has called on its metro police department to arrest those who engage in illegal dumping in Soshanguve.
The municipality’s roads and transport committee chairperson Brendon Govender was visiting ward 37 last week as part of efforts to find solutions to the maintenance and cleaning of stormwater infrastructure in the area.
He asked residents and political principals to unite to work together in targeting illegal dumping.
Govender said illegal dumping affected the drainage system in a negative way causing blockages.
“Communities must not dump rubbish into these channels because during the rainy season, the whole area gets flooded, including inside houses.
“The Tshwane Metro Police Department should arrest people for illegal dumping because it affects everybody. Also, residents must report people who carry out illegal dumping. We are busy engaging with stakeholders to find solutions to tackle illegal dumping,” he said.
The township has been plagued by water shortages in recent weeks which have left residents frustrated.
Last week angry residents took to the streets dumping trash to channel their frustrations over the water shortages.
Picketing residents blocked the streets with rocks and debris while dumping rubbish.
The protesters wanted to know when Rand Water was going to restore water after it announced the water outage was due to maintenance.
The Pretoria News reported last week that the maintenance was started on July 12, but the water utility was unable to indicate when it would be concluded.
The bulk water supplier had promised Soshanguve residents that the maintenance would be completed by the weekend.
The City of Tshwane conceded that the water woes had become unbearable for residents.
It said this had sparked protests in some areas, with residents finding the outages unacceptable.
Mayor Cilliers Brink said the City was providing water tankers during the water outages.
“I think 47 of them. It’s costing us R150 000 a day, which we didn’t plan for, but we are in continuous engagement with Rand Water,” Brink initially said.
Pretoria News