Cape Town - About 5.5 million households classified as indigent are expected to benefit from a new refuse removal policy.
Briefing the media today, Deputy CEO of Government Communication and Information System Vusi Mona said the Cabinet yesterday approved the National Policy for the Provision of Basic Refuse Removal Services for indigent households.
He said the policy was in line with the adoption of the free basic services policy in 2001, as well as the government's aim to protect of natural resources and environmental assets.
The National Treasury had set aside R4.6 billion to fund the removal of refuse, he said.
The Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Buyelwa Sonjica would work closely with the Department of Corporative Governance and Traditional Affairs and other ministers to co-ordinate the implementation of basic services such as water, energy supply, refuse refusal and sanitation.
Mona said the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs would develop an implementation plan and a monitoring mechanism to ensure efficient implementation of the policy.
"The department will also pilot a project aimed at extracting the economic value of refuse especially as it relates to the green economy," he said.
Mona said the Cabinet noted the lack of legitimate landfill sites intended for the disposal of waste and the need for the development of a policy around this.
Cabinet had tasked the inter-ministerial committee on acid mine drainage, working together with the various spheres of government, to look into this matter.
Meanwhile, the report on the study of the violent nature of crime in South Africa, which was commissioned by the Cabinet in 2007, was approved by the yesterday and will be tabled for approval in Parliament before it is released for public comment by the Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa.
