The smashed glass, takeaway packets and assorted rubbish strewn along Gqeberha’s beachfront this week are a potent symbol of a broken society.
Cleaners said the mess, left after the long weekend, was the worst they had encountered in the past four years.
Photographs taken on Monday morning proved Ward 1 councillor Dries van der Westhuizen’s words to be true: “As South Africans, we tend to throw our rubbish next to the bin instead of inside.”
East London has not fared any better.
The newly opened multimillion-rand Baby Lee Jegels Recreation Park, which is meant to uplift the city’s beachfront and contribute to tourism, was left in a state of disarray by weekend revellers, many of whom were drinking alcohol in public.
So, what’s the solution? Greater education? More visible patrolling? A no-nonsense approach like they have in Singapore?
The Nelson Mandela Bay municipality’s communication campaign stresses zero tolerance for litter and waste in public open spaces, yet people continue to defy the rules because they know they can get away with it.
Though beach patrollers and law-enforcement officers tasked with monitoring the situation have made a difference in many instances, it is difficult to police people 24/7.
Business owners on the beachfront have done their best to put up signs warning of the effects of pollution on the environment but their pleas have been largely ignored.
And more cleaners have been employed to try to deal with the situation over the festive season.
These are all examples of an attempt to treat the symptoms without managing to address the root causes of societal decay.
The bottom line is that people using public facilities need to do their part to prevent the rubbish from piling up in the first place.
It can’t always be someone else’s responsibility.
The simple act of leaving a picnic spot in a mess without any regard for the next person points to a lack of respect some people have for others — and themselves.
Will we ever get to a point where we address this festering challenge in a meaningful manner or will we continue to wait for a cleaner to put the evidence of our failings in a plastic bag so we can pretend they don’t exist?
HeraldLIVE