A trucking disgrace
Only half of refuse fleet operational as city drowns in filth
Only half of Nelson Mandela Bay’s municipal fleet of 60 refuse trucks is operational – and some of these are, at times, in for repairs for lengthy periods.
This is why the city is so filthy, the municipality says.
The 30 trucks have to cover all 60 wards in the city.
The revelation comes amid growing criticism from residents and visitors about the state of the Bay, particularly the townships and northern areas, which are drowning in piles of rubbish.
There have also been complaints about the mushrooming of illegal dumpsites.
About two months ago, the municipality launched a huge project to help clean up the city through co-operatives.
It was set to cost R120m over three years and create more than 400 jobs for 41 cooperatives.
The work started on August 1, municipal spokesperson Mthubanzi Mniki said, but the effects would only be seen later as the co-operatives could not cover all the areas at once.
The filthy state of the city spurred Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane to make three calls at the weekend to the Bay’s political principals.
He called mayor Mongameli Bobani, the metro’s political head of infrastructure and engineering Andile Lungisa, and public health portfolio head Yolisa Pali, and asked them why the city was so dirty.
Mabuyane had said in an interview with The Herald that cleanliness had worsened since his previous visit.
He said the filth in the townships was a sign of a collapse in governance and was depriving residents of their constitutional rights.
“The story that they are unable to procure trucks because business people don’t want the municipality to procure trucks and want the municipality to use trucks from small businesses, or whatever – it can’t be,” Mabuyane said.
“The main function of a municipality is to remove refuse in communities.
“If the municipality cannot provide electricity, water and refuse removal, that municipality is nonexistent.
“If the system of engaging SMMEs works and it cleans the environment, that’s not an issue,” he said.
“But the municipality has got workers who are employed to drive trucks.
“The municipality has got money to buy trucks and they should have bought trucks by now.”
Lungisa said he had explained to Mabuyane that the main challenge was the state of the refuse fleet.
“Many of the refuse trucks are not working – I think there’s poor management of the fleet and that’s what we need to attend to and address,” he said.
“There has to be an urgent discussion about this.”
Lungisa said the money was available.
“If there is no money, we will make alternative plans because we are worried about the state of the townships,” he said.
However, he said the co-operatives would not make a difference if the trucks were not working.
“Those co-operatives won’t make a difference when we don’t have a strong fleet in the municipality.
“Everybody agrees that we need to take an urgent political decision that will help clean the city,” he said.
Bobani declined to comment on which disruptions in the supply chain processes had delayed the procurement of new refuse trucks.
“I spoke to the premier on Saturday and he raised concerns about the dirt in the city,” the mayor said.
“There was a cry around the procurement of trucks because we are trying to make sure we have all the tools to clean the city, but that process was stopped because of procure
‘We need to take an urgent political decision that will help clean the city’
Andile Lungisa
POLITICAL HEAD OF INFRASTRUCTURE
ment issues.” Bobani said they hoped to supplement the cooperatives project with the war on waste project – which is another programme that is meant to clean the city.
“Within a couple of weeks this problem will be resolved.
“We have been working on this and we are still progressing as it’s not an easy thing,” Bobani said.
“We have a big city and people are dumping almost on a daily basis.”
Bobani said they hoped to clean up the city once and for all through the waste-to-energy project that was in the pipeline. That project – referred to as the waste beneficiation project – has been discussed in municipal corridors for years.
It never got off the ground due to uncertainty on exactly how it would work as well as the cost of the project – projected at the time to be about R1bn.
Pali referred questions to Mniki, who said the co-operatives were on site, but that the project was being rolled out in one area at a time.
“They commenced on August 1,” he said.
“There are 41 areas that will be serviced – we are currently covering 25 areas.
“In the remaining areas we are working on a few community-based challenges; however, we envisage all areas will be covered before October.”