Ekurhuleni waste saga: Residents say improvement in collection is rubbish

Residents of Boksburg, who are still experiencing problems with waste collection, are not convinced that the City of Ekurhuleni is close to recovering from its failure to deliver basic services.

Residents say despite bins starting to be emptied, their suburbs remain plagued by other problems, like illegal dumping, broken streetlights, potholes and overgrown grass.

In response to the recent collapse of waste removal services, Mayor Tania Campbell established a special task team to address the matter.
This led to some smiles for residents when it was announced last week that a weekend blitz would take place to clear the backlog.
However, reacting to a progress report published on the Boksburg Advertiser’s website, online readers pointed out that many areas are still experiencing collection delays.
Among the areas they claimed had not been serviced, after weeks of rubbish piling up, were Elspark, Parkrand Village and Cason.
Ward 32 Clr Marius de Vos confirmed that some areas, including Parkrand Village and Cason, had not been serviced by this Tuesday and were not part of the weekend blitz.
Illegal dumping flourishing
De Vos also raised the alarm about the rampant dumping of household waste in open spaces across his ward.
He said areas like Boksburg East, Cason, Parkrand and Parkdene are swamped with illegal dumping due a to lack of waste removal services.

“Illegal dump sites are mushrooming on the streets. This includes the wetlands area between Parkdene and Parkrand, which has been turned into a makeshift landfill site thanks to uncivilised people literally dumping their domestic waste willy-nilly.
“Illegal dumping on the doorstep of St Dominic’s School for Girls is also the order of the day,” said de Vos.

He added that authorities need to shake the waste department’s tree a bit, as it appears that the problem lies with council employees not doing their jobs.

Sorry
Apologies have been issued by the metro, saying they are doing everything they can to get collections back on track.

The spokesperson for the city, Zweli Dlamini, said the task team was working on getting more trucks to be added to the waste collection fleet.
He added that, with the weekend rubbish blitz and ongoing efforts to clear the backlog, the teams have managed to reach most of the affected areas in the city.

What our online readers had to say about our online story headlined Ekurhuleni rubbish saga: Metro comes close to clearing backlog:

Frederick Hattingh: We were sabotaged by all these council workers.
Allen Mee: Except Boksburg. One month, no collection. Thanks.
Janet Derrett: Thank you. Our bin was emptied at 20:33 last night.
Charlene Vosloo Roodt: Ag asb … dit vrot al en die vliee.
Tracy Beukes: My weeks of rubbish state differently.
Jacques Tellis: We need to stop paying for garbage removal. It doesn’t get removed in any way. We need to start with our campaign now.
Mlindi Ndlangamandla: Are we supposed to clap hands and say well done?
Denise Oosthuizen Wilshire: If we focus on all playing a positive supportive part, build nationhood and forget the disgusting hatred sewn by the ANC and EFF, we can invest in our country and grow it.
Louise Nel Bauermeister: Yet, our bins are full and there is no truck servicing Elspark this week.
Chris Potgieter: Ekurhuleni has no money to pay for repairs for lawnmowers from two years ago, no petrol to use their own mowers while the operators sit and get paid. This is mismanagement.
Lebohang Moloi: Improvement? How? It’s been weeks with full dustbins.

Also Read: Waste thrown outside of dumping site affects residents