Residents, BCM blame each other
King William’s Town residents are complaining that the streets are littered with trash – and it has worsened over the past two weeks.
Denzil Smith, a Breidbach resident, complained that the town was so filthy that pedestrians “can’t even walk on the pavement”.
He wanted to know why this was allowed to happen.
Smith said he often saw BCM employees meant to be cleaning the streets sitting idly as the trash gathered.
He felt the worst areas were the town’s taxi rank, Market Street, and busy Wellington Street.
He complained he rarely saw the streets being cleaned.
In a picture sent to the Dispatch, a pile of garbage can be seen blocking parking bays.
A similar pile is visible in the background.
Buffalo City Metro spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya said: “There is a planned schedule of collection dates for the KWT area, which residents are aware of.
“However the issue, particularly on streets like Cambridge Street, is non-adherence.
“Despite letters and awareness drives to residents that their collection day is every Wednesday, residents still take out garbage every day.
“This is a culture that needs to be changed as it counters all the efforts we put in to keep the area clean.
“Concerns about the cleanliness in this area have been brought to the attention of the municipality’s management, and the concerned department is expected to come back this week with solutions on how to turn the identified challenges around, such as looking at staffing and equipment.
“It will no doubt be one of the issues on the table when the executive mayor holds a preimbizo meeting with all the councillors of the KWT area on Wednesday, to measure progress on service delivery before going to the public next week.”