The director of the Justice and Peace Commission has called on the people of God to be at the forefront of fighting for the social inclusion of waste pickers in South Africa.

In a statement to mark Laudato Si Week, the director of the Associate body of the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference (SACBC) Fr Stan Muyebe OP said, “Ecological conversion in the South African context should include changing the way we view and treat the waste pickers who are considered social outcasts in South African society.”

Fr Muyebe further said, “Most of the waste pickers are the homeless and slum dwellers in cities.   In each of the big cities in South Africa, they are seen everyday rummaging through waste bins in the suburbs of the rich and the middle class to salvage recyclable materials that they can sell for a living.”

“The homeless and slum dwellers in big cities in South Africa are struggling to survive the economic hardships, including the rising cost of living and unemployment.   One of the ways that they use to find a small amount of money to put food on their table is through waste picking in the waste bins in the suburbs and in the landfills,” he added.

In his Thursday, May 25,  Message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation under the theme “Let Justice and Peace Flow,” Pope Francis highlighted the “maternal heartbeat of the earth,” saying, “During this Season of Creation, let us dwell on those heartbeats: our own and those of our mothers and grandmothers, the heartbeat of creation and the heartbeat of God. Today they do not beat in harmony; they are not harmonized in justice and peace.”