Over on @PortfolioSA's twitter stream and FB page there's been a bit of a debate about the Stompie Hotline this morning and I thought I would take it over here to our blog for a more in-depth discussion. 

Feel free to wade in - all opinions are welcome in the comment's section - and please note, those expressed in this article are of blog editor Joy-Anne Goodenough and not necessarily representative of Portfolio Collection.

About the Hotline

First off for those who don't know, the stompie hotline is a dedicated 24 hour complaint line for the reporting by members of the public on the tossing of cigarette butts out of car windows.

Helen Zille tweeted earlier this week: "Cape Town now has a 'stompie line' to which you can report this [plus] car registration: 021-424-7715," 

The hotline has received 1684 complaints since it was set up in 2007.

Today on Twitter someone tweeted the following:

"Stompies? A dedicated hotline? Really? This is a priority now? Talk about #firstworldpains. When will we start helping the poor tho?"

To which I replied:

“The devastation caused by veld fires warrants something being done& stompies are litter. Keep them in your car."

The reply came back:

"We have kids still not having access to decent education or clean running water. #priorities"

So I took the debate over to Facebook which sparked another conversation. Some of the comments:

Anna: " Re stompie hotline, next time someone says 'there are more important things like starving kids' ask them when they actually did anything to help those kids. If they're the kind of entitled idiots who think it’s ok to start fires in pursuance of their nicotine addiction my betting would be that they've never even met one. Oh, and having a My School Card doesn't count! Stompie hotline saves us money. The cost of that compared to the cost of extinguishing massive fires is nothing."

Kari: "Throwing stompies out of the car window should be a criminal offence!!!If I see someone doing that I hoot and give them hell for doing it! It’s disgusting and people who do that should be ashamed of themselves!!!Litter of any kind is inexcusable and I will not tolerate this naive and inconsiderate behaviour. Stompies do not biodegrade, if you have the awful habit of smoking, you can litter your own car's ashtray!!"

Axel: "I'm with you on the littering thing - stompie or not, littering is just such a no-no. I've seen first-hand the impact of a veld fire or six."

Marion: "so ideally there should be a hotline for any kind of littering and also for reporting parents that don't strap their kids in. They should give people warnings first and if your number plate has been reported more than once you should get a fine. And then that money from the fines can go to "more important causes such as the starving children"... problem solved!"

My opinion...

My own opinion is that just because there are LOTS of important matters in this country, addressing one doesn't negate any of the others. 

It also seems to me that those who protest are usually smokers... or is that unfair? Not that all smokers litter - I know those who do keep their stompies in the car. What gets to me the most? Smokers who say they can't keep their stompies in the car because they make the car stink!

Have your say...

So: Is the Stompie Hotline a waste of money that could be better spent helping the poor?

Will it really make any difference at all? (I have my doubts... even though I support the willingness of the city to Do Something...)

Comments welcome!

(Image from here)

Call the Stompie Hotline!

Take down the offending driver's car numberplate number and call

021 4247715

with a description of the vehicle and the area where the incident occurred.