While City of Tshwane and Samwu are playing a blame game over the wage strike, residents of the capital city have been left with piling rubbish and unattended burst pipes.
The wage increase strike entered its third week on Monday with Tshwane blaming striking workers for intimidating the non-striking employees. Samwu has since distanced itself from acts of intimidation. The city also confirmed yesterday that it had dismissed 100 employees for taking part in an unlawful strike.
The workers are demanding 5.4% wage increase, but the city said it would not afford it.
It has, however, been the residents who have to bear the brunt of the stalemate which has compromised service delivery. The metro is currently failing to render services which include waste collection, attending to sewages leaks, electrical faults and burst water pipes in the CBD and in townships.
Rubbish floats along with sewages while illegal dump sites have mushroomed in certain parts of the city.
Sowetan has seen two pipe bursts that have been left unattended, one being in Leyds Street, the same road that the “blue lights” usually use when driving to the Union Buildings. The other one in Mabopane Block C which has been pumping out water for more that two weeks, leaving residents without running water coming out of their taps. Residents said their telephone calls to the city had not been answered.
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“The city officials have been ignoring us. We sent the complaint numerous times in different methods. All we are asking for is water. We have old people who need water to take their medication and we demand this to be prioritised,” said Danny Masothe from Mabopane.
Another resident in Pretoria CBD said that he hoped the city will resolve the matters urgently as this might push away investors.
“It is very disappointing to see garbage not collected for this long. I mean this is the capital city – one of the places investors, tourists, and others visit to spend their money. This is the image we are giving them, shame,” said Fana Baloyi.
EFF regional chairperson in Sunnyside Majuda Mauwela raised health concerns that could be caused by the illegal dumping sites.
“The place is now very dirty, dumping sites in almost every corner and it smells very bad,” said Mauwela. “Of course, the city should just listen to their workers and they are asking for what’s due to them.”
Street vendors, who sell food in the CBD, said their businesses were taking a knock as nobody want to buy food sold near piles of rubbish.
Tshwane spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said they were working on a catch-up plan.
“The city is actively implementing a catch-up plan which includes waste collection operations which will run into the weekend for areas that have been affected. Due to acts of intimidation by strikers as well as backlog that is being addressed, there has been delays in resolving some of the leaks.”
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