Rats in the kitchen plague Du Noon residents

Peter Luhanga

Du Noon residents have complained that rats are taking over their township. One Du Noon resident said a rat had even chewed through his refrigerator and devoured the food inside.

“These rats are not normal. They eat everything and anything,” said Sumaila Mama, who has patched up the hole in his fridge with cello tape.

Another resident, Ntombekhaya Njeza, said rats had nibbled her fingers when she was sleeping.

Njeza said when night fell, the rats would “take over”.

When sleeping, residents had to make sure their feet were covered or they might wake up and find their toes had been nibbled on, she said.

Du Noon Advice Centre field worker Nombuyiselo Ngali said the rats ate food, clothes and bedding.

“When you buy bread and leave it overnight on the table you won’t find it in the morning, only the plastic under the table.”

Makeshift shipping containers used for storing garbage had become a breeding ground for rats.

“We need to take up arms against these invaders. Away with rats,” she said.

The battle to stop rats in Cape Town costs the city over R2-million annually in control and extermination measures.

This figure included the salaries of 23 environmental health assistants as well as poisons, according to Dr Ivan Bromfield, the city’s executive director of health.

Bromfield said the City had a rodent baiting program in place at known breeding sites in townships.

These points were usually near transport interchanges or large trading sites and were baited at least once a quarter, said Bromfield.

In Du Noon and nearby Doornbach informal settlement there were 60 permanent baiting points, he said.

He said in Du Noon’s Siyahlala informal settlement near a railway line the level of complaints regarding rats “has increased in the last few months” and could be the result of the expansion of the area.

Bromfield said complaints about rats could be made at any city health clinic.

“An Environmental Health Assistant (pest control operator) will visit your home, and place poison out in a safe and responsible manner as well as give health education about what measures you need to take to prevent a re-infestation of rodents,” he said. — West Cape News