‘Rats as big as cats’: City of Joburg’s Pikitup unveils plans to tackle poor waste management amid food poisoning deaths
City of Johannesburg’s waste management service provider, Pikitup, has announced that it plans to implement a programme aimed at addressing poor waste management in townships and informal settlements, following the use of hazardous pesticides to control rats which led to deaths of schoolchildren.
The initiative comes after the deaths of children in Naledi, Soweto and Alexandra, due to food poisoning.
During his address last week Friday, President Cyril Ramaphosa voiced concern about the scourge of food poisoning incidents, which have claimed the lives of 22 children in the country.
Ramaphosa said since September, there have been a total of 890 reported incidents of food-borne illness across the country, with Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal having been the most affected, while Limpopo, Free State and Mpumalanga also recorded dozens of incidents.
Naledi, in Soweto, six children died after eating toxic snacks bought from an unregistered spaza shop operated by an illegal foreigner.
According to Ramaphosa, the deaths of the six children, were linked by the the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) to a highly hazardous chemical pesticide, known as Terbufos.
In addition, Ramaphosa has said that the use of hazardous pesticides have been linked to last year’s deaths, where three children in Ekurhuleni and three children in Soweto died after exposure to Aldicarb.
“Terbufos is an organophosphate chemical that is registered in South Africa for agricultural use and It is not allowed to be sold for general household use,” he said.
Ramaphosa said poor waste management in areas such as Soweto, contributes to pest infestation, which results in locals using cheap but highly hazardous remedies, such as Terbufos and Aldicarb.
”Aldicarb has been banned for use in South Africa since 2016,” said Ramaphosa.
In response to the crisis, Ramaphosa introduced several measures to address the surge of food poisoning incidents, including 21-days registration of all businesses, closure of all businesses implicated with food poisoning, and food inspections in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.
Soweto and Alexandra, where a young girl, aged 11-years-old, died after eating contaminated snacks, are among the areas under the City of Johannesburg metropolitan municipality (CoJ), battling with ongoing waste management problems.
Despite efforts by Pikitup, the city’s waste management entity, to clean and maintain townships and informal settlements, the issue of inadequate cleaning is still a major problem for some time.
Alexandra resident Matildah Tselana expressed that waste collection in the area is an ongoing challenge for locals.
“We are struggling with waste collection. Sometimes they do come to collect the trash, but other times they don’t come. This leads to the trash piling up and resulting in an unbearable smell.”
Tselana said severe rat infestation is plaguing the area, due to poor waste management.
“Rats here are as big as cats, they are destroying our belongings, including food, and clothes. In the past years, young children died after being attacked by rats,” she told IOL News.
In response to Ramaphosa’s concern about poor waste management in municipalities, which results in residents using hazardous chemical pesticides, City of Johannesburg’s spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane said the metro is now taking action to address the crisis.
“Pikitup is implementing programmes to manage waste collection across Johannesburg,” Modingoane said.
He said the programmes include the clearing of illegal dumping sites, especially in the identified hotspots.
“The measures will also include increasing the rounds for litter picking and street sweeping in densely populated areas such as the Inner City of Johannesburg,” he said.
Modingoane said Pikitup would also be conducting public awareness campaigns, aimed at educating the residents across the city about the importance of maintaining clean environments.
IOL News