Road to Addo paved in litter

MY weekly drive from Addo to Port Elizabeth past Motherwell leaves me, as always, gobsmacked.

As the international tourist season is about to start, I blanche at the thought of what must go through the minds of our important tourist market as they drive through the "landfill site" which is the gateway to the hub of our tourist region, the Addo Elephant National Park. Every now and then people are dispatched to the route to clean up.

Trash is placed in green garbage bags and stacked in heaps on the side of the road. Trouble is, this is where it ends.

There is no service to remove the stinking, rotting garbage so goats, cattle and dogs tear open the bags in search of food and the unspeakable filth of decaying refuse is again cast to the mercy of the wind. The Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Environmental Affairs should be coming down hard on municipal authorities. But no, their comfort zones are secure as they draw salaries from a bottomless well of funds.

Conor Ward, Addo