Gaborone City Council (GCC) Mayor, Austin Abraham has blamed the city’s waste management crisis on poor service delivery by some of the council’s departments.
Speaking at a recent media briefing, Abraham said since assuming office waste management crisis has escalated because some relevant departments are dragging their feet.
He said Gaborone has changed from bad to worse in terms of litter collection, while it was not the case before his ascendancy to the top office.
“According to the Local Government Act, as the council leadership, we give a directive to the council; and the implementation should be done by the Town Clerk,” he said.
“Our city is extremely dirty and it is a disgrace. The root cause is none performance from relevant departments by taking too long to collect waste which is supposed to be collected in seven days,”charged Abraham.
The Mayor said he has received several complaints from members of the public about litter collection.
“Sometimes litter remains uncollected for over a month which attracts flies and worms, a serious hazard to our health,” the Mayor said.
He said it was imperative for council to adhere to the litter collection schedule to keep the city clean.
“The Town Clerk is supposed to make sure that our directives are implemented. This filth is scaring away potential investors and works against our President, Mokgweetsi Masisi’s efforts of luring Foreign Direct Investment (FDI),” Abraham told jourmalists.
“I’d like to urge the Town Clerk to be responsive to the public’s concerns,” said the unimpressed Mayor.