Ekurhuleni Waste Crisis: Sunward Park and surrounds suffer for weeks with no waste collection
by Cllr. Lana Marais — DA Councillor for Ward 43 in Ekurhuleni
Date: 16 September 2021
Release: Immediate
Type: Media statement
The ANC and its coalition partners* have once again demonstrated their service delivery failures by neglecting to collect waste refuse from Sunward Park and the surrounding areas leaving residents and councillors highly frustrated.
A massive waste collection backlog across the Metro means that Sunward Park, Freeway Park, Dawn Park, Windmill Park and Klippoortjie have completely inconsistent refuse removal days, leading many residents to resort to illegal dumping just to avoid the health hazard that accompanies uncollected waste.
The waste collection backlog can be traced to the City’s mismanagement of contractors operating the City’s landfill sites, with some, such as Rooikraal and Rietfontein being closed to the public from January 2021. As a result, waste litters the surrounding areas with waste collection vehicles having no alternative place to dump.
The Waste Department, under the leadership of MMC for Environmental Resource and Waste Management Services, Ald Khosi Mabaso, and HOD, Faith Wotshela, have been little help in informing councillors or residents when the backlog may be alleviated. In the meantime, whether waste collection occurs on any given day is anyone’s guess. These leadership failures have in the past led the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Ekurhuleni to launch a motion of no confidence in MMC Mabaso, only to be denied by the ANC and its coalition partners, who are in the habit of rewarding incompetence.
It is unfortunate and unacceptable that residents are ultimately the ones who bear the brunt of this incompetence as illustrated by the City’s lack of waste collection. The DA will continue to put pressure on the Metro to provide residents with a comprehensive management plan to address the waste crisis, as well as hold them to account of the by-laws and policies that require them to legally carry out their mandate of providing timeously and adequate service delivery.
#Time4Change
*ANC Coalition Partners: African Independent Congress (AIC), Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), Patriotic Alliance (PA) and Independent Ratepayers Association of South Africa (IRASA)
Cllr. Lana Marais
DA Councillor in Ward 43 Ekurhuleni