Tightening of by-laws needed, says mayor

A limited waste removal budget, a lack of willingness to change the behaviour of illegal dumpers and the need for more than one bin per household.

These are some of the reasons given by Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink for the recent spate of illegal dumping that seems to have gripped Pretoria.

Residents in the Moot and surrounding areas voiced their frustrations over the issue of illegal dumping to Rekord last week.

This prompted a meeting with the mayor in which Rekord sought to get some answers on what the metro was doing to combat this scourge.

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While the metro has committed itself to fighting illegal dumping, Brink admitted that budgetary constraints were a major challenge.

Regarding the dumping of rubbish, as well as its accumulation in certain neighbourhoods, he pointed out that compared to the City of Cape Town’s budget of R350-million for rubbish removal and rubbish dumping, Tshwane only has R30-million available for this service.

He explained some of the biggest problems surrounding rubbish dumping in some residential neighbourhoods stem from the fact that backyard dwellers do not want to pay for rubbish removal at R400 per rubbish disposal bin.

One bin per house cannot remove all the rubbish from one yard either and so the rubbish then ends up on the street, especially in and around informal settlements.

“As with the illegal dumping by trucks, it is that behaviour that will have to be changed before the problem can be solved and this change will take some time,” said Brink.

To tackle illegal dumping, he pointed out that the tightening of by-law policing was needed, such as the confiscation of these garbage trucks that illegally dump garbage.

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To this end, Brink believes a possible provincial coalition government resulting from this week’s national elections will benefit the metro.

“We will more likely be able to carry out our city council’s agenda.

“These offenders must know we are going to fine them and confiscate and tow away their vehicles. This application of by-laws is going to become stricter everywhere,” he warned.

Part of this stricter enforcement plan is the proposed centre for the better application of by-laws currently being created by the metro, where departments will join hands with law enforcement.

“The centre and the application of law enforcing by its employees working together with the metro police are now quickly gaining momentum,” warned Brink.

Meanwhile, the mayor applauded recent public participation processes surrounding the metro’s proposed increase in its service delivery rates. This included a 5% increase in the budget for refuse removal.

Several public meetings were held in Pretoria from April 9 – 24 to discuss the proposed and recommended rates. The city council made the recommendations during its meeting on March 27 during the discussion of the draft budget for 2024/25.

 

The proposed budget introduces various increases, including:
– 12% for electricity
– 5% for property rates
– 5% for refuse removal
– 5.9% for water
– 5.9% for sanitation

Brink pointed out that the increases mostly reflect the inflation rate of 5% and are much lower than the recommended increases of other metros such as eThekwini, which proposed an electricity tariff increase of 14%.

“Of all the metros, our proposed tariff increases are the lowest,” explained Brink.

He emphasised that the rates are not being used to get the metro out of its financial predicament. According to him, various committees of the metro, such as the mayoral committee, are meeting at present and at the end of May to discuss the feedback from the public participatory meetings.

The proposed tariffs as approved by the city council during the consideration of the draft budget for 2024/25 in their next council meeting will be implemented from July 1.

A July 1 event that Brink felt less positive about is the final legal introduction and rollout of the traffic fine system, the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences system.

Minister of Transport Sindisiwe Chikunga confirmed last week that her department intends to put all legal requirements in place before the elections, such as the appointment of a tribunal, to put the system into operation after having been tested and finalised over 20 years.

The system, which streamlines traffic offences and introduces a demerit points system that could lead to suspended or cancelled licences, is expected to be rolled out across South Africa.

The system has been in its trial phase for several years in Johannesburg and Tshwane.

Brink explained that the metro already had to implement some of the provisions of the system over a period of10 years.

This is due to resolutions of previous metro councils and administrations after they had agreed for the metro to be a guinea pig for the traffic fine system’s regulations.

“I’m not in favour of this system. It will lower our income from fines. We have already felt the negative effects of it for quite some time. The provisions surrounding the fines are difficult to implement and cost money, as fine notices have to be ordered by registered posts on violators. It has been difficult for the metro to execute already,” Brink said.

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