Ward 14 of the George municipality has been stuck without a Ward Councillor since February when DA councillor – Edmund Bussack – was fired for cooperating with opposition parties.
In the midst of all of this, service delivery has effectively ground to a halt.
A major consequence of this is that waste management operations have not been fulfilled, leading to hordes of trash being laid bare in public spaces. Of course, open waste leads to many issues including health risks and environmental pollution.
Charleen Titus – the GOOD candidate for Ward 14 – recently led a cleanup operation in parts of Rosedale, a community which forms part of her ward.
On the 22nd of August, Charleen, along with other GOOD activists, filled over 20 refuse bags with uncollected trash. She says there is a lot more to be done for Ward 14 to stay clean.
According to her, community members and GOOD activists reached out concerning the complaints they had over the littering and illegal dumping which was taking place. Charleen escalated the issue to George’s municipality but did not receive a response, despite calling multiple times.
The company which has been assigned to do most of the cleaning for George’s municipality often fails to reach Rosedale, with COVID-19 having an especially negative effect on the speed of service delivery.
This has led to community activists such as Charleen taking matters into their own hands.
According to her, the municipality’s inability to respond to Ward 14’s concerns is emblematic of how the DA has governed George. In her own words:
“They only care about the people in the dorp. I feel like they don’t care about the poor and the people in need. I’ve been a volunteer for years and nothing has changed.”
She believes that the DA has disappointed those who voted for them in Ward 14:
“I am upset and disappointed that the DA is not looking out for the people that voted for them. They look after the rich. They must notice us too”.
Come November 11, she wants to make Ward 14 a GOOD ward.
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