Joburg joins forces with Ekurhuleni to fight rodents

23 May 2016

 

The cities of Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni have launched a joint campaign in a bid to deal decisively with rats infestation plaguing both municipalities.

 

The partnership is the first of its kind and will be targeted mainly at the two municipalities’ joint borders.

Johannesburg’s Member of the Mayoral Committee for Health and Social Development, Councillor Nonceba Molwele, said Joburg was highly impressed by how Ekurhuleni had managed to significantly decrease the prevalence of rodents in its area of jurisdiction.

Speaking at the launch of the campaign in Mayibuye, near Tembisa, on the East Rand on Friday May 20, MMC Molwele said: “We, as the City of Johannesburg, want to adopt the strategy used in Ekurhuleni to deal with rodents in our municipality. Alexandra is still a problem area. Ivory Park is even worse.”

MMC Molwele said she appreciated the fact that the two neighbouring municipalities had decided to work together for the greater good of Gauteng residents. She said municipalities were usually separated by a street.

“The City of Johannesburg and the City of Ekurhuleni have found that services are not the same. One thing is clear, though, and that is that rodents don’t have boundaries. They go where they want to go and whenever they want to,” she said.

Ekurhuleni has been successfully using bait cages and fumigation to rid its areas of rodents. MMC Molwele said the campaign would promote inter-municipal collaboration and involve pest control operators, pesticide suppliers and environmental health practitioners, supported by private partners. The infestation of rodents and other pests is exacerbated by the amounts of waste generated by communities, which allow them to breed uncontrollably.

It is for this reason that the cities of Johannesburg, Tshwane, Mogale and Ekurhuleni are to launch a joint environmental health and cleanup campaign.

“We have to eliminate the conditions in which rodents thrive. For this we need the active co-operation of all residents,” said MMC Molwele.

She urged residents to report any public health concerns that might contribute to the breeding of rodents to the City’s Environmental Health Department.

Jeffrey Morulo of Pikitup, the City’s waste management entity, said municipalities needed community support to eradicate pest infestation. He said waste did not only affect the environment but also the health of community members.