21 May 2017

Chairperson of Selolwe Ward Development Committee (WDC), Mr Batshegi Kgari has said the continuous use of unauthorised drainage system by some families continued to be a challenge.

Mr Kgari said this in an interview, explaining that it had come to his attention that some people continued to use the drains without proper consultation with the concerned office.

“Some people here have developed a habit to connect their water system toilets to the drainage system and put them to use without proper consultation, inspection and authorisation by the concerned officers,” he said.

Mr Kgari said in most instances, when these drains blocked up such people also failed to report the matter and with such a situation, these drains ended up spilling and imposing a health threat to the people in the surrounding areas and to the domestic animals as well.

He also noted that the tendency by some people to throw in some of the unrelated waste material directly into the main holes also contributed to the blocking of the drains.

“Some of the people open up the main holes and throw in food left overs soaked in water, muddy materials,  sanitary pads and others, making it difficult for the waste to easily flow,” he said.

On other issues, Mr Kgari also decried illegal dumping of household refuse, citing that this has also remained a challenge.

He said though the Green Scorpion participants always made efforts to sensitise the community about the dangers of such practises, the situation has not changed.

“The Green Scorpion participants always take up rounds around the area so as to encourage people to dispose their household refuse in a safe manner. However the situation of waste left lying around does not change for the better,” he said.

Mr Kgari indicated that some of the refuse was disposed of in nearby bush while others dumped such waste by the river banks.

Mr Kgari further said this was largely due to the fact that most of the homesteads did not have dust bins and efforts to collect refuse in plastic bags had proved not ideal as these easily tore off, leaving refuse scattered around. ENDS