#PeoplesVoice HOW CAN WE KEEP THE INNER CITY AND OLDER SURBURBS CLEAN?

Joyce Ozynski – ListenerGuest: Member of the Mayoral Committee Tshidi Mfikoe - Environment and Infrastructure Services Portfolio City of JohannesburgDear Ashraf, There is a topic in much need of public airing. I refer to the failure over decades of Pikitup to keep the inner city and older suburbs clean. 1. It has been rigid in its refusal to run an education programme on waste for the public, many of whom are from the rural areas. 2. It does not give wheelie bins to those who need it - indeed, it recently tried to charge nearly R500 for a bin. In any case, it has kept its contact details so well hidden that no-one who wants a wheelie bin has any idea of how to get it.3. It has no effective monitoring programme.4. There are no penalties for dumping rubbish straight onto the pavement.5. Speak to a stakeholder liaison person and they will give you 'head in the clouds' waffle about recycling. 6. Pikitup street sweepers do not consistently put plastic liners in bins. 7. Crumbling rubbish bins (the swing type) are not replaced. 8. Rubbish bin collectors leave a line of small refuse behind.I have lived in Yeoville for decades and I speak from observation. The Pikitup bureaucrats get promoted without any justification. I have seen this. Pikitup has never used it rubbish collection trucks to monitor and report, which it could easily do by sending someone to accompany each driver on his rounds. Why does the City keep Pikitup on when it is so manifestly not doing its job? Will the new CEO make a difference? Only if she goes out, sees what is being not done, and radically alters company policy.