Over two thousand volunteers gathered at the Bloemfontein Southern Landfill site yesterday to clean up the South Park cemetery and dumping site.

This event was launched at the Municipal Cleaning, Greening and Separation of Waste at Source programme led by Deputy Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment, Makhotso Maggy Sotyu, Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Pinky Kekana, Free State MEC for Community Safety, Roads and Transport, Maqueen Mathae and Mangaung Executive Mayor, Gregory Nthatisi amongst others.

Sotyu said her department spent R200 million in Mangaung to help with service delivery challenges. The department recruited 2100 volunteers who will be paid a R2,700 monthly stipend on a 12 month contract, while R68 million was spent on fleet which was handed over to the metro.

Workers will also receive Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) after the duration of the stipulated contract and will be compensated f they are injured on duty.  The Metro also received two tipper trucks and now has ten in total; eight bakkies with eight drivers and eight supervisors amongst others.

Sotyu said the project launched in the Mangaung Metro will also be taken to other municipalities throughout the country.  Mayor Nthatisi welcomed the help from Environmental Affairs and said lack of enough resources and growth of the city contributed to the shocking state of service delivery in the metro.

OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi