If everybody did their bit, we would not have litter problems
IT WAS with a great deal of surprise that I read the praiseworthy article by Durban’s Mayor – James Nxumalo on litter and pollution (Sunday Tribune, June 12).
My surprise was based on the fact that we have so many public servants who do not seem to care about anything other than jobs and land redistribution for the poor.
Not that these elements are unimportant, but we lose sight of what could easily be done to relieve us of these problems, namely ethics and productivity.
He is quite correct that no amount of cleaning and policing will solve the problem. We, as the custodians of our beautiful world, are responsible for this process and anything we as individuals can do, helps solve the problems of pollution and litter. How do we do this as we cannot send them to already overcrowded jails like they do in Singapore?
I could also not help think that the article was preaching to the converted. Who is it that reads the press publications carrying this wonderfully written message from our mayor.
In my humble opinion, those who should be paying attention to his message will never get to read the article and, probably could not. So we have to find ways of solving the problem by thinking out of the box.
Alongside this article was another about the problem cardboard pickers are creating with their scratching through bins and rubbish on the pavements from businesses in Durban.
I am told that the drivers of the rubbish trucks are purposely delayed giving the scratchers time to do their rounds ahead of the trucks.
The business owners were complaining how this disrupts their customers and makes them feel intimidated.
The net result is that customers go where they feel safe and the businesses suffer.
If these owners were participating in the mayor’s message, they would accumulate their own cardboard and take it for recycling themselves. This would then remove the source of the cardboard for the pickers and they would move on. If everybody did this, the whole litter problem would slowly dissipate. PAUL BOTHA
Durban