Same Bags, Different Day: Sol Plaatje’s clean-up is still rubbish

By Monty Quill

IF YOU squint at Sol Plaatje Municipality’s “Refuse Collection Update” on October 9, it almost looks like progress. Cassandra, Belgravia, Ernestville — all “successfully cleared”. Homelite, Homevalley, and Homevale Extension — “backlog addressed”. Teams “currently attending to” Riviera, Verwoerdpark, and West End. It’s a civic symphony of verbs: addressed, attended, restored, cleared.

Except, of course, for one tiny detail — the garbage.

Out here in my street, the before and after look exactly the same. A proud pyramid of black refuse bags stands undisturbed, like a modern art installation titled Municipal Promises #47. The dogs appreciate it, the flies adore it, and many have stopped complaining — not because it’s been fixed, but because we’ve reached the quiet, resigned stage of decay.

The municipality assures us that “teams are working hard” to “restore the normal collection schedule”. One can only assume “normal” refers to that familiar Kimberley rhythm where rubbish collection occurs at the same pace as infrastructure upgrades — once in a blue moon.

To be fair, a protest at the municipal yard did delay operations. In Kimberley, even our protests are more efficient than our service delivery. But as the press statement beams about yesterday’s triumphs and today’s “attending to”, I couldn’t help but notice that my street didn’t make the cut. No clean-up, no progress, just a refuse truck hurtling past. And so we are left with the same loyal heap of bags basking under the city's sun, steadfast as ever.

Wouldn’t it have been great if they had actually stopped to collect the garbage here?

One also can’t help noticing how loudly the municipality toots its own horn for finally doing what it’s paid to do. Every “successfully cleared”, “attended to” and “backlog addressed” reads like a standing ovation for picking up litter and refuse — the administrative equivalent of applauding someone for brushing their own teeth. Kimberley residents are long past being impressed by the bare minimum. What we’re waiting for is something above and beyond: a day when refuse is collected on schedule, when streetlights actually work, or when a press statement is followed by visible proof instead of the usual perfumed paragraph of self-congratulation.

Until then, the only thing truly “restored” in Kimberley is our faith in déjà vu.

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