Ekurhuleni Fleet Department’s failures adversely affects Service Delivery

by Cllr. Bill Rundle — DA Shadow MMC for Transport Planning in Ekurhuleni

and Cllr. Jaco Terblanche — DA Shadow MMC for Community Safety in Ekurhuleni

and Ald. Andre du Plessis — DA Shadow MMC for Environment Resource and Waste Management in Ekurhuleni

Date: 13 April 2021

Release: Immediate

Type: Media Statement

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Ekurhuleni has been warning the ANC and its Coalition partners* for the past four years about the probability of a cataclysmic collapse of essential services.

Following years of poor planning and maladministration under the incumbent administration, the Fleet Management Department, which is responsible for vehicle repair and maintenance, this month, informed all Departments within the Metro that certain vehicles would be unable to perform their mandated tasks.

The City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) Vehicle Fleet management is a disaster! The appointed service provider for the City’s fleet has not upgraded or refurbished a single workshop or service depot in two years. The failure by the CoE to maintain and upgrade its own workshop facilities has resulted in many service vehicles becoming unroadworthy and remaining in workshops for prolonged periods.

In addition, the Metro’s workshop facilities remain in a state of disrepair with vehicle maintenance backlogs overwhelming these facilities. The poor planning, lack of oversight and general maladministration by the Metro has meant that service delivery will be downscaled, and, ultimately, the City’s residents will suffer.

Furthermore, numerous CoE vehicles are standing in depots as they do not have valid licences. In February 2021, the metro issued a directive to say that vehicles without licences and expired licences should not be utilised. It is alleged that the CoE cannot renew its vehicle licences owing to a lack of funds. As a result, service delivery has immensely suffered, particularly waste collection.

Waste collection services are in complete disarray as numerous regions in the City are down to one truck, and the waste collection backlog is escalating daily. Waste clearance turnaround times continue to lag, resulting in intolerable conditions as waste continues to pile up unabated. This waste crisis is exacerbated by the shortage of waste collection and processing vehicles at many depots.

During the past week, refuse was again not collected in several areas in Ekurhuleni. Waste Collection officials who were interviewed by the Springs Advertiser** confirmed that they are ready and willing to work. However, refuse trucks standing in the depots cannot be used owing to expired licence discs or mechanical issues.

As the DA, we find it disingenuous that the Ekurhuleni ANC Caucus has run to the media to “condemn the disruption of waste collection services” in the City. The sheer arrogance of the CoE is alarming!

The hypocritical excuses of the ANC Coalition-led CoE fails to hide their incompetence and inability to deliver on their Constitutional mandate to deliver services to the residents of Ekurhuleni.

The DA in Ekurhuleni will not stop holding the Metro to account and will expose the blatant dishonesty of the ANC coalition-led administration for trying to mislead the public for their service delivery failures.

Under a DA-led Metro, waste delivery and collection will be declared an essential service, where the vehicles needed to fulfill the waste function will be licensed and serviced timeously to not compromise services to residents across the City.

*ANC Coalition Partners: African Independent Congress (AIC), Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), Patriotic Alliance (PA) and Independent Ratepayers Association of South Africa (IRASA)

**Springs Advertiser Article Link — https://springsadvertiser.co.za/256975/refuse-removal-trucks-gather-dust-while-waste-piles-up/

Cllr. Bill Rundle

DA Shadow MMC for Transport Planning in Ekurhuleni

Cllr. Jaco Terblanche

DA Shadow MMC for Community Safety in Ekurhuleni

Ald. Andre du Plessis

DA Shadow MMC for Environmental Resource and Waste Management in Ekurhuleni