Oudtshoorn, 22 February 2023 – The Greater Oudtshoorn Municipality is aspiring to restore the image and dignity of the town, especially because Oudtshoorn is tourism destination. Illegal dumping on every street corner, open space and pavement are giving the once beautiful town an unclean and unsafe feel. Therefore, Oudtshoorn Municipality in partnership with Garden Route District Municipality and other stakeholders have embarked on an Illegal Dumping Campaign from 13 February until 17 February 2023.
Illegal dumping is the disposal of rubbish, garden refuse, building rubble and any unwanted material in inappropriate public places. Illegal dumping is, as the word says ILLEGAL and is a huge challenge in the community. The implication of illegal dumping is unhealthy living environments for all residents in the area. These unhealthy environments lead to foul smells, causing headaches and bacteria. The lack of fresh air and poor air quality that ultimately causes lung and heart problems and a weakened immune system are a few effects of living in a dirty environment.
Oudtshoorn Municipality wants to encourage residents to report illegal dumping. There are various ways that illegal dumping can be reported, for example by lodging a formal complaint to your ward councillor, telephonically to the customer care line on 044 203 3090/3086 and from the beginning of June the municipality will be activating the Collaborator App that would make it much easier and more accessible to lodge complaints from the phone. This App will enable residents to lodge a complaint, take a picture and upload it, and check on the progress of complaints. Members of the public can stay anonymous when lodging complaints.
Mr Ambrose Carelse, Environmental, Health and Heritage Officer of the municipality said “We need the help of all communities in the Greater Oudtshoorn above all. Without the help and assistance from the residents, this task will defeat its purpose. As the municipality, we form partnerships with different government stakeholders and organisations, we are monitoring waste activities in all the hotspots, involving kids, community workers, and councillors to spread the message and we as a municipality will try our utmost to be more verbal and enforcing fines when it comes to illegal dumping”.
The Municipal Manager, Mr Walter Hendricks, and the Executive Mayor of the Greater Oudtshoorn, Alderman Chris Macpherson, had a walkabout through town last week, where they spoke to stall owners, asking them to make sure the space in in front of their stalls is clean and to ensure that there is a bin or black bag around to throw away rubbish around their space of business.
The municipality started awareness projects almost a year ago but used this illegal dumping campaign to intensify these projects to ensure awareness of the negative impacts of messy streets and illegal dumping in our neighbourhoods, starting with educating kids in creches and schools to establish education from a younger age. Municipal Bylaws are already in place when it comes to fines for not abiding by the law.
There is this saying that goes, “let everyone sweep in front of his own door and the whole street will be clean”. That is the message from the municipality to the residents of the Greater Oudtshoorn. Mayor Macpherson said that he fully supports this campaign as well as all cleaning projects, and added that “we need your assistance, and we will not win this fight of getting rid of illegal dumping without your help. We need each other to make the Greater Oudtshoorn clean. Please pick up after yourself and spread the message.”
“To do this, each one of us must do our part and plaster and polish our town’s face again so that we once again radiate the shiny, neat and good image to the outside” Carelse added and said that if any school or organization are interested to plant trees on their premises to please contact him as cleaning and greening goes hand in hand.