Disgruntled waste collection service providers, who lost out on new contracts in the City of Tshwane, have been accused of threatening on-duty truck drivers disposing waste at landfills.
The simmering tension between the City and former contractors this week broke out into violence at landfills after the introduction of new waste management service providers.
The Tshwane metro police public order policing had to be deployed to quell violence and maintain order.
Many residents have been left frustrated after the City failed to collect waste from their households on scheduled days.
Some residents resorted to illegally dumping their waste, while others in Mabopane burnt them to ashes.
Rubbish continued to pile up yesterday in some parts of Soshanguve, with residents expressing anger at the municipality for subjecting them to an unclean and unhygienic environment.
MMC for Environment and Agriculture Management, Ziyanda Zwane, said there had been disruptions and threats to municipal truck drivers in the landfills on Monday and Tuesday.
He said: “The service has been disrupted, but we have a plan in place to make sure that we address the backlog. We also have a team that is on standby to make sure that our streets are clean again, because we can’t run a risk of having streets that are dirty while you as customers you are paying for the service that you are receiving.”
He added that the City strove to make sure that the waste collection service was efficient and effective enough.
Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink said violence erupted at the landfills on Tuesday and Tshwane metro police and public order policing were deployed to restore order.
“But we have also had instances where officials have been threatened by people with business interests who can’t comply with the new rules and we simply put our foot down,” he said.
The new waste collection system, he said, had three new rules for waste removal contractors.
“The first is that their vehicles have to be newish and roadworthy; the second requirement is each of those waste removal trucks must have tracking devices so that we can see where they are. The third requirement is that they must have e-Natis documents,” he said.
He added that the rules were applicable to subcontractors in cases where the main contractor decided to use their service.
According to Brink, the rules were about the City fighting hard for residents to get value for money for the services they pay for bin lifting.
“Unfortunately, as happens, we get resistance when we do that,” he said.
There had been resistance to new rules, leading to change of 60% of previous contractors who were not retained because of these new value requirements.
On Monday, the City said in a statement that it “expects an improved waste collection service from the previous and new service providers and pleads with customers to exercise patience while the new entrants try to familiarise themselves with the city’s landscape and operations”.
“If customers experience delays with their waste collection, they should send an email to [email protected] or call 012 358 9999,” the City said.
Pretoria News