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For more than two months, the Maseru City Council (MCC) has been tidying up the capital’s streets, relocating vendors to facilitate pedestrian traffic and improve the town’s overall image.
Some of the evicted vendors, who illegally occupied the sidewalks, caused traffic jams and forced people to walk on the main roads, thus endangering people’s lives, have been relocated to various open areas in the city, while those operating illegally have been permanently evicted.
Melbourne City Council has also issued directives to businesses operating in commercial buildings across the city not to place illegal billboards outside those buildings.
The decisive move has made the capital cleaner and less crowded. However, it has also led to dissatisfaction among vendors and small business owners, who complain that the MCC has taken away their livelihoods.
Furthermore, in order to control irresponsible littering and the establishment of illegal dumpsites, MCC has started arresting and publishing the names and photos of people involved in any act of pollution on its social media platforms. If anyone is caught dumping rubbish at an illegal site, they will be fined a non-negotiable RM5,000 and in some cases, they will be taken to court for a jail term.
For more information on MCC’s decisive actions, lesotho times (Left) reportersweet potatoRecently spoke with the Commission’s public relations officerGood luck to Mosala.
extract:
Left:Please tell us about the ongoing drive to remove street vendors?
Work:We are conducting an operation to clean up Maseru town. We have found that there are several challenges that are hindering the smooth implementation of this plan. The main challenges we face are the increase in shacks, scrapped vehicles and unlicensed street vendors.
Let me clarify that licensed and unlicensed street vendors have occupied the MCC footpaths without permits.
So we are working hard to address these challenges. We are evicting unlicensed street vendors whose operations are hindering ongoing developments such as road rehabilitation, and those who would normally clog the roads.
We have also relocated documented street vendors and provided them with alternative workstations to make room for the development of the town.
We have also issued instructions to owners of scrapped vehicles to remove their vehicles as these are mostly used as work stations. We are actually clearing the pavements to ensure that there is enough space for the dumpsters and that the dumpsters are visible to people so that they can dispose of the garbage.
By doing this we try to reduce litter around the town and encourage people to use the bins placed around the town.
We also remind business owners that their licences do not allow them to advertise products outside their buildings under section 9(3)(8) of the State and Planning Act 1980 and regulation 11 of the Business Registration and Licensing Regulations (Schedule 4, Regulations 8, 9, 12 and 13).
These pieces of legislation will help us take legal action against businesses that fail to comply with the Directive.
There is no specific timeline for the order, but hopefully people will comply and ship the products back to stores.
If they fail, we will help them transport their products, and then we will dump them at the Ha-Tšosane dump or sue them.
What we are saying is that we will use existing laws to establish order, especially for those who are unwilling to comply.
Street vendors holding MCC permits are supposed to occupy a space two metres from the sidewalk.
It is also necessary to investigate whether licensed street vendors comply with their trade permits, such as whether they sell the products stated on the permits they hold. A street vendor’s permit lists the name of the permit holder, the location assigned to the street vendor, and the type of business operated at a particular location, among other things.
Left:How many street vendors operate without a license?
Work:We don’t know because they have no documents.
Left:Let’s talk about the anti-pollution campaign carried out by MCC. We have seen that MCC’s Facebook page publishes photos and names of people caught in polluting behaviors such as dumping garbage at illegal sites. What prompted them to take such drastic action?
Work: Most of the time, we receive complaints from different polluted communities. People tend to dump their garbage from their homes in other people’s communities. So, through this initiative, we are trying to protect those people who are affected by pollution while disposing of their own garbage.
For the past decade, we have been promoting the concept of community contracting, motivated by the lack of open roads in some communities for MCC trucks to collect waste and our inability to collect waste in all communities that pay MCC for waste collection.
The concept involves signing a contract with community members to collect the rubbish in their vans and paying a monthly fee. Communities are encouraged to come together and agree on a fee for the collection and dumping of rubbish at the Ha Tšosane dump in the presence of chiefs and councillors. Through this arrangement, community members can be responsible for collecting the rubbish and paying the rubbish collectors, rather than having to pay the MCC for rubbish collection.
Because we want to continue to control this initiative, the communities bring their receipt books to the MCC every month to be stamped so that we know the people involved in the scheme and the vehicles collecting the waste so that we can monitor their movements and ensure that the waste is dumped at the right dumpsite.
We found that some community residents did not follow the regulations and chose to dispose of their own garbage. Unfortunately, they dumped their garbage in other people’s communities and illegal dumpsites.
Therefore, taking pictures of polluters and posting their details on our Facebook page is our way of discouraging such acts and reminding people that there are environmental laws in place and legal action can be taken against them if they pollute the environment.
Left:If someone is found polluting the environment, how much is the fine and what is the extent of the pollution?
Work: Under Section 38 (1) to (5) of the Environment Act 2008, pollution is punishable by a fine of not less than RM5,000, imprisonment of not less than 2 years, or both.
This means offenders will be fined RM5,000 or face two years in jail, either of which is possible, depending on the severity of the pollution. We should realize that pollution is throwing things that the public does not want in places where they should not be thrown. This could be throwing banana peels on the ground where there are special trash bins. It is throwing diapers in open areas such as grasslands, or even throwing a bag of garbage in a trash can or illegal dump. Garbage is garbage, we don’t sort it.
We are also encouraging communities to police themselves and report polluters so that legal action can be taken against them. The polluters we have arrested are paying the fines I just mentioned.
Left:What impact has this initiative had?
Work: Yes. It has a big impact. We had problems in Masyanokeng and Hubetsona, where pollution was very high. Since the initiative, people have stopped littering. People are now aware that we are taking action against polluters and have stopped.
To ensure that other communities follow suit, last week we started holding public meetings to guide communities in community contracting and community policing. This is to prevent them from dumping their waste from their homes in town or in other people’s communities. It is also to encourage them to take legal action against polluters within their communities.
Left:From what I understand, the MCC is overwhelmed by illegal dumping sites. How bad is the situation?
Work: It’s terrible. There are so many illegal dumpsites. During our last campaign, we wanted to put up signs prohibiting littering and we found more than 35 illegal dumpsites in Maseru. These dumpsites require heavy machinery to clear.
Left: Let’s think about people’s behavior, especially men urinating in the street. Is this considered pollution? If so, will there be a fine?
Work: Urinating in the street is a form of pollution and there are laws against it. It is also an act of public indecency. We will take the same measures against them as we take against all polluters. If we find someone urinating in the street during our patrols, we will arrest them. They will also be taken to court for the crime. We are making every effort to deal with anything that has a negative impact on the environment.
People shouldn’t expect that one day we’re going to make a public announcement and arrest them for urinating in public or doing anything that negatively affects the environment. We’re just going to pounce on them.
Left:Has the MCC made any progress in relocating the Ha-Tsósane landfill to Rothe??
Work: We have designed a closure and remediation plan for the Tsósane dumpsite. The way we dump waste now is consistent with the remediation plan that will continue after we relocate to Tšoeneng. We are currently addressing concerns raised by communities near the dumpsite, who have complained about pungent odors and infestations of rats and cockroaches. We recently hired a contractor to fumigate the dumpsite and affected homes.
The Tšosane dump will be rehabilitated and used for other purposes after the relocation. All that will remain is the history of it being a dump.
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