Riot Hlatshwayo

Mpumalanga's capital, Nelspruit, is filthy and the local municipality knows it.

Losihlahla Ndlela said yesterday she came "from the farms " on Monday in the hope of finding useful items in the piles of rubbish.

"People told me that rubbish had piled up over the weekend so I came to look for anything useful."

The Mbombela municipality admitted that the city was dirty and rubbish had piled up.

Spokesman Vusi Sibiya said there would be a press conference late yesterday to discuss cleaning the city, and other matters.

He said a task team would discuss how to clean Nelspruit.

"The task team will deal with a number of issues, including the cleanliness of the city," said Sibiya.

A shopper from KaNyamazane Township outside Nelspruit, Iris Sen'wane, said she was concerned about the stinking rubbish.

Holding her nose closed, she said she hoped to visit a cleaner city in the future.

"I wonder why the municipality leaves things like this. The city is full of tourists and it is not good for our reputation," said Sen'wane.