27 Aug 2020

 Jwaneng Mayor, Ms Olga Ditsie has implored the youth of the town, especially those with waste carrier licences, to take advantage of the opportunity created by the council when it relieved itself of waste collection services in business premises. 

Speaking at the Jwaneng township council forum on August 26, Ms Ditsie indicated that the council ceased offering the service as at the end of July. 

She said after the move, the council intensified monitoring of business premises to ensure that waste was properly stored, transported and disposed as per the Waste Management Act. 

“I therefore urge honourable councillors to encourage the community to be observant as those who do not comply will face hefty penalties,” she said. 

Ms Ditsie also informed the councillors that contracts for refuse collection within the mall area, as well as garden waste collection in the eight units, came to an end at the same time after two extensions. 

“Tenders to replace the same are under the process of adjudication and anticipated to be awarded before the end of this month. The process was delayed by the COVID-19 lockdown,” she said. 

She revealed that currently the services were done in-house, which had significantly affected other council services like household waste collection and mall cleaning due to shortage of transport and manpower. 

“I remain positive that the tenders will be awarded soon to alleviate the above stipulated shortcoming,” she added. 

Ms Ditsie also said that COVID-19 protocols on social distancing had led to halting of clean-up campaigns, leading to the town’s cleanliness levels dropping from 85 to 75 per cent. 

She said that the situation was exacerbated by the fact that community members continued to dump papers and plastics around the burrow pit in the town’s outskirts, against the initial agreement to strictly dump builders’ rubble to fill the pit.  

The mayor also informed the councillors that the township’s landfill had reached its lifespan and needed to be expanded to accommodate the amount of waste produced by the town. 

She also assured the councillors that such an expansion as well as a waste operation facility had been included in the development budget estimates for the next financial year. ends