Senior citizen from Allen Grove writes:
For two weeks our refuse bin has not been picked up.
At last, this morning [June 2] we managed to stop the refuse lorry and ask what the problem was.
The reply was that our bin was not approved by the Ekurhuleni municipality. This after the wheelie bin was emptied regularly for over a month.
Our wheelie bin was stolen from the driveway during lockdown. I immediately bought a wheelie bin from a local hardware shop.
I had no intention of standing in a queue at the police charge office and risking the threat of being infected by Covid-19.
I was under the impression this is a free enterprise country. Since when do municipalities dictate from where we as ratepayers must make our purchases?
What next? Will we be instructed by Ekurhuleni municipality to use certain carpenters, plumbers, mechanics as is the case in communistic country?
What little dictator made this decision about the wheelie bins? At what municipal meeting was this decided, were ratepayers informed?
Is someone getting a kickback on wheelie bins sold, sure looks like it. We proposed a swop be made which would be the easiest way of sorting out this issue.
Of course this was not acceptable, could it be someone was more worried about their back pocket than sorting out a ratepayer’s problem?
Instead of making ratepayers’ lives a misery, Ekurhuleni municipality should treat them with the respect they deserve. They should concentrate on the pigsty referred to as Kempton Park CBD and the transfer station on Highveld Road that only appears to operate for a couple of months a year because of breakdowns.
How do we resolve this problem? Must we dump our litter on the municipality’s premises?
We await a solution.
Themba Gadebe, metro spokesperson, replies:
City of Ekurhuleni Environment Resource and Waste Management Services Department has distributed wheelie bins to all residents for ease of waste removal and/or collection thereof in an environmentally clean manner.
The protocol for replacement of stolen wheelie bins has been made eloquently clear from the very beginning when distribution was initiated: report the stolen wheelie bin at a police station and get an affidavit for proof of loss.
Upon receipt of the affidavit, submit it to the waste management offices for replacement.
The department endeavours to ensure that refuse collection shall be done with the wheelie bins supplied to residents by the municipality as and when service thereof is rendered.
