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People’s Post
‘Who let the dogs out?’ Bad weather couldn’t keep Boss, a Boston Terrier, from attending the Cape Town Boston Meet at Green Point Cricket Club on Sunday 29 September. Boston Terrier Rescue South Africa arranged the event. Full story on page 2. PHOTO: ANGIE FULLARD
KENILWORTH
Clean-up goes off the rails NETTALIE VILJOEN
A
Kenilworth railway community cleaning campaign was cancelled just 15 minutes after it began on Saturday 28 September. A team of about 10 community members, who were joined by Ian Iversen, councillor for Ward 59, and Sharon Cottle, councillor for ward 58, were told to stop their clean-up activities after George Kiewiets, Metrorail special project manager for the Western Cape region, received a call, saying that permission for the clean-up had been withdrawn. The operation was called off after safety complaints were received from Kenilworth Residents’ Association (KRA) committee member Rory Moore.
Moore was present at Kenilworth station, the designated meeting place for community members wanting to assist, on Saturday. According to sources, who asked not to be named, Moore said Prasa was putting residents in harm’s way by getting them to do its work. He said the area designated for clean-up (starting at Kenilworth station down to Wetton bridge), was littered with syringes and human excrement. He allegedly said the team who had volunteered to help weren’t qualified to safely handle such items. He allegedly told one of the volunteers, Gail Brown, who has been actively involved in railway clean-ups for the past eight years, that she did not belong there. People’s Post contacted Moore, but he de-
clined to comment. In an open letter to Prasa, Brown said the closing down of the community railway clean-up was a sad day and reminiscent of the apartheid era. “The fact that it was brought about by a small, anachronistic part of the community, through which the train runs and who stand to benefit most, is baffling,” said Brown. In answer to the issue of safety and not being qualified to clean up, she asked what qualifications were needed to pick up litter. “The bulk of the litter is paper, plastic and glass. We carry buckets for the glass so it can be recycled,” she said. As far as syringes and excrement were concerned, Brown said that she had rarely seen a needle in her many years of railway clean-ups.
“It is easy enough to tell everyone to let them lie and we normally ignore human poop or spade it into a hole and put sand over it.” Henk Egberink, a community activist who helped organise the clean-up, says planning started in June after he was approached by community members from Rosmead. “Residents were complaining of vagrants who were sleeping next to the railway line. We also received quite a few complaints about the state of Wetton bridge close to the taxi rank.” He said, following procedure, he contacted Kiewiets to get the ball rolling. On Thursday 1 August, Kiewiets, with his security team, met with Egberink to do a safety and security assessment of the area. V To page 2.
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