TSHABONG - Inadequate service provision in local authorities is the major hindrance to the proper waste management strategies, Principal Waste Management Officer Mpho Tebele has said.

Presenting a paper on the roles of local authorities in waste management at a full council meeting in Tshabong, Tebele said the other problems that the local authorities faced include, insufficient resource allocation, poor planning, mismanagement of facilities, lack of awareness, shortage of human resource and knowledge.
Tebele said the local authority should be the principal litter authorities countrywide so that the environment could be clean.

It is unfortunate that politicians such as councillors preach about the developments but they never preach about the service that they are going to give to the people, she said.

She said that was why there was a problem of waste management countrywide. She said if the local authorities could manage the waste accordingly, they could generate lots of funds because the law gives them the authority to charge if an offence was committed.

She said this could be done by charging small businesses in the area when they collect the waste from them.

She told the meeting that Tshabong Landfill was run in a proper manner because the people who work there seems to lack skills of compacting waste using the compacting machine.

In addition, she said the drainage system at the landfill was full of plastics, which was a clear indication that the waste was not managed accordingly.

She told the councillors that it was their responsibility to develop a district waste management plan and to enforce the existing act of waste management.

She told them that their role as local authorities was to provide waste management service, waste collection services, develop and maintain the waste facilities and provide with the human resources and the necessary equipment.

Commenting on the presentation Cllr John Lentshikang of Kolonkwaneng and Bogogobo ward said waste management act should be enforced to ensure that all the people comply with it, otherwise people would continue to violate it. BOPA

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