The issue of waste management and its impact on ordinary citizens has long been an area of concern in Grahamstown, but business establishments within the Grahamstown CBD have given Makana Municipality the thumbs up for keeping the city clean.

In Grahamstown a number of concerns have been raised by residents particularly regarding poor waste management  in townships and suburbs, bu the the view within the confinements of the CBD, however, is rather different.

Recently I interviewed a few business owners within the CBD and they were all of the opinion that the municipality generally keeps the city clean and tidy and they always collect waste on time during the weekly pick-ups.

Hannes Loots, the owner of Buddy's Liquor Store in New Street, pointed out that the municipality always collected rubbish on time every week and that he was happy with the general cleanliness of the CBD. Loots' comments were echoed by the managers of both the Rat & Parrot ad Equilibrium in New Street.

Business owners also pointed out that they often have extra rubbish which is not collected by the municipality, and that they clear this rubbish themselves or hire private contractors to do so.

The Director of Makana Tourism, Willem Makkink, also added his weight to the discussions about waste management within Grahamstown, saying that he was pleased with general cleanliness of the CBD. He was also happy that Makana Municipality had started an initiative to recycle waste by having orange plastic bags where people could papers or bottles which could be recycled.

However, Makkink had concerns about the northern entrance to town (the R350), where there exists a municipal dump which he says “is causing problems with papers and plastic bags flying around so much that a prominent game reserve in the vicinity refused to take tourists on that route”.

Makkink said that Makana Municipality should address this problem urgently as this was a key tourist route, but that otherwise he was generally satisfied with the municipality's efforts to keep Grahamstown clean and tidy.