Nthatuoa Koeshe

MASERU City Council (MCC) spokesperson, ‘Makatleo Mosala, says people who dispose of their garbage in undesignated areas are criminals and they should be treated as such.

Ms Mosala said this in a recent interview with the Sunday Express on the sidelines of the launch of the council’s anti-littering campaign code named the Name and Shame Campaign. The campaign started off at an illegal dumpsite in Ha-Penapena, in Maseru where council staff cleaned up the spot that has for several months been infested with scavengers looking for recyclable materials.

Ms Mosala said the campaign was the council’s way of taking decisive action against litter bugs.

“We believe that people who litter are criminals and they should be treated as such hence we will be fining these people M1000 for every time they are found disposing of their litter at illegal dumping sites,” Ms Mosala said.

“As MCC, we have realised the uncontrollable issue of littering around town and we have mentioned in the past that people should implement strategies we suggested to them such as cleaning the areas they live in and dumping the garbage in Ha-Tsosane.”

She however, said they are also encouraging communities to agree terms and amounts and contract people form among themselves to collect their garbage. She also said some of the community members who are unwilling to participate in such initiatives end up creating illegal dump sites.

“We issued warnings to stop littering through sign boards at the dumping sites but they are often ignored,” she said.

Ms Mosala also said they have identified Ha-Penapena in Ha-Abia and Khubetsoana Lifariking as the two problematic areas so they have started the campaign with the two sports.

She said they have deployed their security officers who will also be working with the police to patrol the problematic areas at all times.