Taxi ranks – Edenvale’s continuing battle
This comes after she pointed out to council that while the contracts are valued at around R10 000 each, only about R2 000 was spent on cleaning the ranks and this included salaries.
The battle to have the municipality face problems at three Edenvale Taxi Ranks continues.
While the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) struggles to appoint contractors for the cleaning of the ranks, the ward 18 councillor for Edenvale, Clr Heather Hart, has paid for this service out of her own pocket.
In July, Clr Hart was told the controversial cleaning contracts for Edenvale’s taxi ranks had been extended for a further two months.
This comes after she pointed out to council that while the contracts are valued at around R10 000 each, only about R2 000 was spent on cleaning the ranks and this included salaries.
Mr Bongile Zondodile has cleaned the Eden Mall Taxi Rank for the last 14 years.
He is currently being paid by Clr Hart.
“Those responsible for the cleaning contracts have never supplied Bongile with cleaning equipment or materials,” said Clr Hart.
She added that Mr Zondodile receives five packets of black bags each month which he shares between three ranks.
He begins work at 5.30am each day to clean up rubbish left behind by taxi cleaners and informal traders, this after leaving at 4pm the previous afternoon.
“Bongile ensures the ranks are spotless by the time they are operational,” said Clr Hart said.
One of the conditions of the tender, was that the contractor supply toilet paper to all the taxi ranks, which has never happened.
When the contractor again failed to supply Mr Zondodile with cleaning supplies in July, Clr Hart bought detergents worth R1 000.
It was also found that no plans had been made to repair broken sinks or clear blocked storm water drains at the Eden Mall Taxi Rank, an issue which Clr Hart had continually brought to the municipality’s attention over a period of three years.
“The stainless steel toilets were replaced, but done so with cheap porcelain ones which had not been fitted with seats,” said Clr Hart.
“It appears as though the municipality is still treating our commuters as second class citizens,” she added.
In August, Clr Hart reminded various departments that the blocked storm water and sewerage drains were an environmental hazard, but again nothing was done.
“The taxi rank was once a state of the art facility. Now it is just filthy and full of grime,” Clr Hart said.
In September, it came to Clr Hart’s attention that the new tender no longer required the contractor to supply toilet paper to the taxi ranks.
To add to the situation, Mr Zondodile had not been paid for two weeks.
“He has a family to feed,” Clr Hart said.
She again called on the powers that be in various departments to ensure cleaners for the three taxi ranks in Edenvale are paid before tenders are awarded to “people who end up putting thousands of Rands in their back pockets”.
By the beginning of October, Mr Zondodile had not been paid for a second month.
“I gave Bongile R2 000 each month just to keep him going,” Clr Hart said.
By the end of October, the month-to-month tender was cancelled and Clr Hart continued to pay Mr Zondodile R500 a month, as well as supplying him with cleaning materials.
Again, nothing had been done to unblock the drains.
Clr Hart added that it appeared as though the EMM hired the same contractor to install new toilets at the Eastleigh Commuter Centre.
“An atrocious job was done installing porcelain toilets, again with no seats,” said Clr Hart.
At the same time, she found out that no one was cleaning the Betschana Taxi Rank.
“It looks as though a bomb hit it,” said Clr Hart.
The ward 19 councillor, Clr Bill Rundle, has said that Clr Hart having to pay for the cleaning of the taxi ranks was disgraceful.
“It is now two years that Clr Hart has tried to get the municipality to do its work and sort out the mess with the taxi ranks in Edenvale,” said Clr Rundle.
The spokesperson for the EMM, Mr Themba Gadebe, said the municipality was in the process of evaluating the cleaning of the taxi ranks bid, which will be valid until June 2015.
“The contract for the cleaning of the EMM taxi ranks expired at the end of June 2014. The contract was further extended to the end of August 2014,” he said.
“The EMM initiated a bid for the utilisation of co-operatives for the cleaning of the ranks as a community development programme, but it could not be finalised due to some challenges with the procurement process,” said Mr Gadebe.
He added that the result was a delay in the appointment of contractors.
According to Mr Gadebe, the department responsible for overseeing the taxi ranks had not received any audit queries regarding to the misuse of funds.
He added that the Eden Mall Taxi Rank was upgraded in 2011.
“Assessments on all EMM taxi ranks are in progress. This will give an indication of the problems and solutions available.
“The assessment outcome will indicate whether the facility needs maintenance or an upgrade,” said Mr Gadebe.
He added that the EMM is advertising the bid for the appointments of consultants to finalise the assessments of the facilities and to come up with design solutions.
