A man walks to work in Barcelona informal settlement. Photo by Masixole Feni.
18 September 2015
The City of Cape Town has begun collecting the rubbish that has been piling up in front of people’s homes in Barcelona informal settlement.
On 2 September GroundUp reported that rubbish has built up in Barcelona following a dispute over employment at Mawose Cleaning Services, the company hired by the City of Cape Town to remove rubbish from the informal settlement. Community members have been accusing Barcelona’s ward councillor, Ngavashe Mzwake, of hiring people close to him. He has however denied this, saying that the hiring process has been run according to the City’s policy. In the meanwhile, frustrated residents had protested frequently, sometimes throwing garbage across the N2.
Barcelona community committee vice chairperson Mawethu Thafani said, “Following a meeting we held this week as a community we decided to let the City go ahead and collect the rubbish. The City started collecting the rubbish yesterday and currently are busy,” says Thafani. He said Mawose Cleaning Service started collecting rubbish yesterday.
Councillor Mzwake told GroundUp that Mawose Cleaning Services has been offered a one year contract. He said the company’s progress would be monitored.