Some residents of the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality are the hardest hit by the disruption of services delivery with dumping sites increasing rapidly following an impasse between workers and municipality over salary hikes.
In July workers afflicted the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) and Independent Municipal & Allied Trade Union (Imatu) downed tools demanding a 5.4% salary hike despite the metro pleading poverty.
Earlier this week, City of Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink assured residents that the municipality is busy with “catch up plans” to clean up as it battles with service delivery disruptions.
“There are catch up plans in terms of waste collection and public cleaning and so fourth. I think significant progress has been made in the inner city but obviously the inner city is not the only part of Tshwane where public littering is a major issue.
“But we will continue to push forward and cooperate with law enforcement to make it safe for our teams to work because that is the essential issue,” said the mayor.
But this is little consolation for residents who have to endure the terrible smell coming from the dumping sites where rubbish is piling up rapidly.
A community leader in Acadia, Louisah Mogashoa said residents are dumping their trash along the stream inWalton Jameson Streets in the area.
“People are dumping their trash near the stream. There are other residents who come at night to dump their trash illegally near the stream. Instead of removing them (trash), some people decide to burn them.
“We only saw a lot of smoke coming from the stream. We are struggling with asthma but we don’t know who comes at night to burn the rubbish instead of removing it,” said Mogashoa.
“It is a mess, there is feaces. We can’t sit outside because it smells so bad. We have been complaining at the municipality about the people dumping in the area. They don’t care. Nobody came. The ongoing strike is affecting us as residents because it has been almost two months. People are so frustrated they come to dump the trash near the stream. There are rats and other scary things coming from these dumping sites,” she added.
Atteridgeville’s Ward 72 councilor, Samuel Masilela, said the municipality is just not collecting trash bins in the area and the smell has become unbearable.
“We have a serious challenge with the ongoing strike. It has affected the community members. The waste collection trucks don’t come anymore, it stinks, there are flies in our houses because people just throw things anywhere.
“So it stinks. It is not healthy because they are not collecting rubbish as they used to. When you are walking down the street, there is trash everywhere. There is a park where children used to play, it is now turned into a dumping site even the nyaope boys have started using it as their smoking area.
“It is a serious challenge. We don’t know where to run to. Everywhere it is turned into a dumping site. It stinks. We fear that children will get illness due to these dumping sites,” said in Masilela.
Masilela also pointed out that they experience prolonged power outages because it takes time for the municipality to respond to their complaints.
“When we experience power outages, it takes a long time for them to repair it. There is a transformer that exploded in the area they haven’t fixed. It is very difficult. Community members are experiencing prolonged power outages,” said Masilela.
A Soshanguve community leader Helen Kgobo said residents are suffering due service delivery disruptions and the township is very dirty.
“It is bad. Since the start of the strike in the city, food is getting rotten, it is a mess and nothing is going right. When there are water interruptions those with water assist others. I don’t think we will be paying our municipal bill anyway.
“Community members are suffering because of the municipal strike. We are tired. We are tired. The township is dirty. They don’t collect waste in the area and residents burn their rubbish anytime. It smells in the area. These are serious problems,” said Kgobo.
