Lack of services such as refuse removal and load shedding have been blamed for the cockroach outbreak in the country. According to CropLife South Africa, the country is in the grips of a near-pandemic outbreak of German cockroaches in the wet and humid summer months.
The Pesticide Trade Organisation claims the severe outbreak has reached a point where the mainly nocturnal insects can be seen running around during the day. The organisation’s operations and stewardship manager Gerhard Verdoorn says the general lack of cleanliness is the main problem..
“There can be anything from 20mm up to possible 30-40mm depending on which part of the country you live and they grow enormous in size and these are the ones that mostly scurry around on the floor, they do fly but they’re mostly ground living animals. So we sit basically with a German cockroach outbreak. Service delivery, other words refuse not being removed on regular basis. Power outages also help them to live happily because in the dark they scurry around, its perfect environment for them to be. So I think the Eskom story and refuse lying around and people not living clean in their own homes, all of these caused a massive outbreak.”
Massive cockroach outbreak in South Africa:
