RESIDENTS are fuming after yet another week of late or no refuse removal at all.
Most Kempton Park suburbs have been affected and were looking for answers on social media.
Ekurhuleni Metro tweeted on Thursday afternoon that the waste removal issue would be sorted out by Monday. It also tweeted that refuse in Kempton Park West, Terenure and Birch Acres would be removed on Monday.
No mention was made of any other suburbs also affected.
According to the tweet, 10 refuse removal trucks broke down, causing the delays. No other information regarding the situation was released by the municipality.
In a statement issued by the DA on Wednesday, it was said that over 70 refuse removal trucks were undergoing repairs in workshops, some of which had been out of operation for over six months.
“In addition to the lack of operational vehicles, diesel depots throughout Ekurhuleni continues to run dry as fuel shortages cripple service delivery. Refuse removal vehicles from Nigel are required to drive to Kempton Park to fill up with diesel before they can proceed with their service delivery rounds.
To make matters worse, the statement said the overtime budget for refuse workers had reached its limit due to irregular working hours in recent months caused by the vehicle breakdowns.
“The DA commend the staff who continued to work after hours for no remuneration to keep delivering services to the people of the metro during these trying times.
“The officials in the solid waste department are exhausted and under extreme stress and are working without a head of department, who left at the end of last month,” the DA said.
Ward councillor André du Plessis, the DA shadow MMC for environment and waste management, told Express the shortage of diesel was caused primarily due to the fact that Ekurhuleni was no longer supplied diesel directly by the large suppliers as the municipality had farmed out this service to emerging contractors.
“These contractors do not have the capacity or cash flow to sustain a service of this magnitude. It appears as if they [contractors] do not have the finances to purchase the fuel in advance and then supply to Ekurhuleni, thus they are dependent on payment up front from Ekurhuleni.
“I am led to believe that the contractors refused to supply diesel until they were paid, which also begs the question whether the correct supply chain management processes were being followed,” Du Plessis added.
The metro confirmed at the end of February that they experienced “an irregular supply of diesel”.
Residents in Ekurhuleni are requested to make contact with their ward councillor to report if their refuse is not collected on the scheduled days. Councillors are sent regular notifications of anticipated backlogs and may be able to give information on planned backlogs.
Residents may also report backlogs to the call centre and obtain a reference number which they may pass on to their councillor if their matter is not addressed within a reasonable period of time.
