ANONYMOUS of Bonaero Park writes:
It is a pity that our arrogant Ekurhuleni Metro Council acts like sheep and blindly follows the policy lead of other ANC administrations around the country.
There is little effort towards best practice and any in-depth interrogation if proposed new systems actually work optimally and whether they will improve the lives of the citizens who pay their generous salaries.
I include the opposition politicians in this criticism because they don’t seem to be very vocal in opposing many unpopular systems. Often the reverse is true and new systems make our lives more onerous.
Here I specifically refer to the forthcoming roll-out in the new financial year of the wheelie bins for garbage removal to all Ekurhuleni households. Also the equally inconvenient foisting of pre-paid electricity meters on all homes which led to such furious protests by Soweto residents.
Maybe the council honchos don’t know, or maybe they just don’t care what an unnecessary head-ache such impositions have given other metro communities like Johannesburg. The major problem is rampant theft when the bins are left in the road for garbage collection.
The theft multiplies exponentially with neighbours even stealing bins to replace their own pilfered items. There is also large scale damage to the bins and their wheels by heavy handed garbage collectors.
The damaged or stolen bins have to be replaced by residents. Sometimes the council does that for free if the thefts are negligible, and sometimes residents have to bear the replacement cost. But it is ultimately a huge inconvenience to residents as the councils insist on people having to go to a police station to obtain a signed affidavit from a Commissioner of Oaths.
The heavy bins are also impossible for elderly residents to manage, unlike a light plastic garbage bag.
Recently the council installed a pre-paid electricity meter for my residence in the outside street box without the slightest consultation or advice to me. I only found out after a key-pad unit was delivered to my front door by a council employee.
I was told that all Ekurhuleni residents will soon have pre-paid meters installed. I have never once defaulted on my electricity account payments in the last 20 years but now I will be forced to undergo the inconvenience of going to the supermarket to purchase pre-paid electricity vouchers. Again, I think of elderly pensioners whose lives will be made harder by this new system.
Surely I should have been visited by a council electricity department official and thoroughly explained how the pre-paid system works and given a contact number to phone regarding any initial teething problems.
A service orientated company would have issued a comprehensive helpful explanatory booklet.
The public always seem to be unfairly prejudiced by government departments who don’t realise they are supposed to serve us, and not think that we should beg them for the service levels we deserve.
Pikitup garbage collectors have been on strike for six weeks in Johannesburg and those residents have to pay for a service they are not getting for an interminably long period, but if we are in payment arrears by just one day we get whacked with a hefty fine.
Such is the abhorrent lack of service by an administration growing increasingly arrogant by extreme longevity in office. The local government elections are just around the corner on August 3 and the metro council is going to get a nasty shock when they realise the “gatvol” public is not voting fodder, and our votes result in several major ANC metros get booted out of office. We demand some respect in return for our votes.
