COUNCILLORS CLASH OVER WASTE WORKERS
“If we don’t handle this matter correctly, the community will handle it in a way that will create problems.”
That was the warning issued by Councillor Sizwe Sokhela, during a heated debate on a new waste management and environmental programme, which is set to get underway in the uMngeni Municipality.
The project, ‘1 000 Jobs in Waste’ is being run by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (Edtea) and will employ 24 people on a temporary basis to clean streets, clear illegal dump sites in the municipality, assist with landfill site management, help sort recyclables and other tasks.
The salaries for the workers will be paid by Edtea, but uMngeni will supply personal protective clothing, tools and transport where it is needed.
ANC councillors had asked for the implementation of the project to be delayed to correct errors made in the list of names presented to Edtea.
The list had been drawn up by Love Howick from its database, but councillors claimed that information relating to wards and people’s contact details were wrong. They also claimed that one person on the list was from Msunduzi.
Addressing the Speaker, Councillor Janis Holmes, Sokhela said: “Chairperson, if you are not handling this matter correctly there will be a problem because these people will be expected to work in certain wards and there will be a problem.
“We don’t have a problem adopting the list, but those are the issues that we need to raise. It is not because it is political. It is not because we are animated because of the job opportunities but the facts are the facts. Anything that will happen, it will come back and haunt us as this council.”
Thulani Mthalane said the programme was much needed in uMngeni, but he too was worried about the errors on the Edtea list.
“There is one issue that we want to raise and we will continue raising it with Edtea and we are doing that because we don’t want to suffer the consequences of any incorrect recruitment of these beneficiaries.
“There is incorrect information provided. Some people are said to be living in ward 11, while they are not living in ward 11. And the numbers that they are using are not their numbers. They are unknown.”
He added that in a meeting with a delegation from Edtea they had raised their concerns about the incorrect information provided about the beneficiaries and he called for an investigation to find out what exactly had happened in the drawing up of the list and how the problems had arisen.
Councillor Gladness Thandekile Dlamini agreed saying they had to delay the start of the programme so that the list could be corrected.
Holmes, however, reiterated several times that uMngeni could not do so.
“We either approve it today or we lose the opportunity entirely,” she added. “Miss Kimera Pllay [from Edtea] has told me that I have to send the council resolution through to her today (Wednesday) or we lose the opportunity.
“So we can’t send it backwards and forwards. They have admitted the flaw in the process and going forward we will use the project steering committee, but if we don’t approve the list, we will lose the list entirely.”