Desperate Duncan Village residents have taken to the streets to burn their uncollected rubbish as service delivery issues in the township drag on.
D-section resident Nikiwe Ngcolani said the burning started on Monday at around 10pm.
Scores of residents pulled the rubbish heaps off the pavements, discarding the black bags along Douglas Smith Highway and setting them alight. The rubbish burned all night, and residents repeated the action at sundown on Tuesday.
Several people from the area complained that the garbage had not been collected in months.
“They went into almost every street looking for garbage. They dragged it out here and burned it. The fires went on for hours and hours. They sang and danced most of the night,” she said.
C-section’s Livene Mcaphukisi said they were sick of poor service delivery in the township in general.
“Another burning issue for shack residents from around Ford Street onwards is that their shacks are still not electrified and they blame their ward councillor for that,” she said.
“Both lanes were blockaded with burning rubbish on both nights and no cars could drive down Douglas Smith Highway. Taxi drivers had to go via Buffalo Flats. They blockaded the road from top to bottom.
“I understand the frustration they are feeling but the smell of the burning rubbish is too much for us because we live just off the main road.
“There are all sorts of things discarded in those black bags and when they burn the smoke becomes almost poisonous. We have children and they can’t breath in this smoke. My child is only eight months old.”
On a drive through the township, heaps of rubbish were still visible on almost every street corner from the top of Douglas Smith Highway all the way to the bottom, with small heaps still emitting smoke from the previous night’s fire.
In some sections of the road, lanes were completely closed off by the huge trash piles, with an orange municipal bin overturned in another section.
In a report in the Daily Dispatch last week, residents complained that garbage had not been collected since November last year.
Buffalo City Metro mayor Alfred Mtsi responded to the city’s rubbish woes, blaming the situation on a shortage of trucks and protective clothing for staff, which he highlighted as two of the metro’s key challenges. — zisandan@dispatch.co.za
DV residents close main road by burning trash
D-section resident Nikiwe Ngcolani said the burning started on Monday at around 10pm.
Scores of residents pulled the rubbish heaps off the pavements, discarding the black bags along Douglas Smith Highway and setting them alight. The rubbish burned all night, and residents repeated the action at sundown on Tuesday.
Several people from the area complained that the garbage had not been collected in months.
“They went into almost every street looking for garbage. They dragged it out here and burned it. The fires went on for hours and hours. They sang and danced most of the night,” she said.
C-section’s Livene Mcaphukisi said they were sick of poor service delivery in the township in general.
“Another burning issue for shack residents from around Ford Street onwards is that their shacks are still not electrified and they blame their ward councillor for that,” she said.
“Both lanes were blockaded with burning rubbish on both nights and no cars could drive down Douglas Smith Highway. Taxi drivers had to go via Buffalo Flats. They blockaded the road from top to bottom.
“I understand the frustration they are feeling but the smell of the burning rubbish is too much for us because we live just off the main road.
“There are all sorts of things discarded in those black bags and when they burn the smoke becomes almost poisonous. We have children and they can’t breath in this smoke. My child is only eight months old.”
On a drive through the township, heaps of rubbish were still visible on almost every street corner from the top of Douglas Smith Highway all the way to the bottom, with small heaps still emitting smoke from the previous night’s fire.
In some sections of the road, lanes were completely closed off by the huge trash piles, with an orange municipal bin overturned in another section.
In a report in the Daily Dispatch last week, residents complained that garbage had not been collected since November last year.
Buffalo City Metro mayor Alfred Mtsi responded to the city’s rubbish woes, blaming the situation on a shortage of trucks and protective clothing for staff, which he highlighted as two of the metro’s key challenges. — zisandan@dispatch.co.za
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