The Ekurhuleni municipality is facing a waste collection backlog in some of its major towns following the breakdown of 10 of its 15 waste trucks.
Areas such as Boksburg, Germiston, Benoni and Kempton Park have had waste piling up for nearly three weeks.
MMC for environment and waste management Andre du Plessis said the trucks that are in workshops were waiting for budget from the new financial year before they could be repaired. “We have been operating with a below 50% capacity of waste vehicles due to continual and unforeseen breakdowns, during the past months,” he said.
“We will release some vehicles as they get repaired. It might take another three weeks until the problem is solved and for us to get back to normal schedule. In the meantime we are asking residents to be patient.
“We are only 27 days [on Wednesday] in the new financial year and we are trying to sort everything out.”
He said some expired contracts of waste service providers have also contributed to the backlog. “The contracts are yet to go on tender. They are still to be advertised and go for bidding. So that process may take a while. We had to also wait for the new financial year before we could advertise.”
On Tuesday, the municipality was functioning with five trucks and in a statement, it said more trucks were released to supplement those supplied by services providers contracted to the city.
“Areas that are experiencing waste removal backlogs will be allocated extended times to attend to the problem,” the statement read.
“Therefore, the city pleads with customers who have not received their waste removal services as per the collection schedule to report such via the call centre on 0860-543-000. The City will provide constant updates to residents as and when there are new developments in resolving the backlogs.”
sibiyan@sowetan.co.za
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