LEADER of the Democratic Alliance, John Steenhuisen MP, visited Durban on Friday to get the ‘real state of the nation’ and to bring the plight of KZN residents to light.
Speaking outside Durban City Hall, Steenhuisen said he, joined by DA KZN Provincial Leader, Zwakele Mncwango MPL, were in Durban to stand on behalf of residents and demand that delivery of basic services is restored, and that refuse is collected timeously from every community.
Commenting on the delays in collection of orange bags, and former mayor Zandile Gumede being implicated in fraud, he said the city had introduced an innovative waste separation system that enabled kerbside collection of recyclable waste, but by 2016 this process had started malfunctioning. Bags stopped getting delivered or were delivered on an ad hoc basis. The collection of the full bags also became inconsistent, with some residents waiting up to two weeks for their refuse to be collected.
In February 2018, it was revealed that the tender process for the awarding of the contract to supply bags to the city was fraught with irregularities and a company which lacked experience and technical knowledge had ended up with the contract.
This was part of the complete capture of the city’s administration, led then by Gumede.
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“Today, eThekwini’s waste management is in shambles, and this is in large part due to political interference by ANC cadres,” he said.
Steenhuizen said since the revelations of corruption in eThekwini’s Solid Waste Department, the DA had laid criminal charges against many of those implicated in the alleged corruption, as well as securing refunds for the payments for bags which were never delivered to some residents. He said on Thursday, the DA rejected the allocation of an additional funding of R166 million to the city’s Extended Public Works Programme (EPWP).
“This programme was moved into the mayor’s office in order to abuse the allocation of jobs for political gain. The DA has written to both provincial and national COGTA departments, requesting an immediate investigation into the city’s EPWP. Corruption stymies the delivery of basic services, which form the bedrock of a functional society. Without water, electricity, roads, refuse removal, and basic infrastructure, our communities, towns, cities, and ultimately our country fails to function,” he said.
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