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Home / Residents come together to clean up their town
Residents come together to clean up their town
2018-02-22Staff Report 2 Matheus Hamutenya Keetmanshoop-Residents, business people and Keetmanshoop municipal staff last Friday all came together to clean up their town, which residents say has been dirty for sometime now. The cleaning campaign is an initiative of one determined resident, Delmari Bergh, who has lived at the town all her life but says has never seen such an ugly sight. “My husband and I were driving one day and I could not believe how dirty this place is. And everyone talks about this. I have been here 24 years and I have never seen it this dirty, so I decided to make it better and the response has been great,” she said. She floated her idea, and Super Sand – a business where her husband works – took the initiative to lead the clean-up campaign. Super Sand was joined by NamWater, HFT Plant Hire, Kaap-Agri, Plastic Packaging who all availed trucks, graders, front loaders, tipper trucks, plastic bags, water and other materials for use during the clean-up. The first phase took place last Friday, with special focus on the informal areas along the B1 main road. The dirt and rubbish in the area are an eyesore to residents and tourists coming into the town using the B1 road. Rudo-Whan Benade, environmental health officer at the municipality, told New Era that although the municipality wants to keep all places clean at all times, residents make it difficult as they dump their rubbish all over, adding that residents need to play their part in ensuring that the town is clean. “This is the main entrance to our town, we want to keep it clean and also show the residents that we see the need and we want to improve, but the community does not contribute or they do not understand that their cleanliness is important,” he said. He said that sometimes waste dumped illegally piles up and the municipality does not have the necessary equipment to remove such waste, and he urged residents to refrain from dumping waste at prohibited areas. “Our residents dump their waste at illegal places, this makes it difficult for us, machinery has been our biggest headache and we thank the businesses for availing their machinery to make this possible,” he said. The second phase of the campaign is expected soon. 2018-02-22Staff Report 2
