Edenvale’s new R5m ablution facility lies empty as staff use broken toilets

The new state-of-the-art ablution facilities at the Edenvale Waste Removal Depot stand empty, haunting the depot like a giant grey ghost, while the staff reportedly continue to use substandard facilities.

Completed in 2023, the facility, which cost between R4m and R5m to construct, appears to be a white elephant. Built seemingly ready for use, it remains locked.

According to Ward 18 Clr Heather Hart, the facility’s construction was part of a bigger project to upgrade the recycling section through to the mini dump site to make recycling easier.

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Hart said financial reasons meant the project was put on hold.

“The new ablution facility is state-of-the-art. It has rows of nice toilets and showers, there is an area for a canteen and many other rooms which could have multiple other uses, such as use as a nursing room,” said Hart.

Hart said the current facilities the staff have to use are undignified.

“When they need to shower, all the guys stand in an open area; there are no cubicles or privacy screens,” said Hart.

She said that at one stage, there was only cold water. However, the NPO, Essentially Edenvale, helped repair the geyser, resolving the problem.

Hart said similarly, the women do not have shower curtains in their ablutions. Most of the toilets aren’t working, and only one or two showers are functional.

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Hart highlighted that it bordered on inhumane that the staff who tended to the city’s waste and hygiene had to take cold showers in such conditions.

“In this day and age, we can’t have staff having cold showers when they come off refuse trucks smelling like refuse and go home smelling like that. It is uncomfortable for them. Understandably, staff will rather shower or wash in the existing ablutions,” said Hart.

“These are worse than poor conditions; they are shocking.”

Hart said it pains her that so much money is spent on items like Integrated Development Plans and council sittings, while there is little investment into the depots and the staff on the ground.

“I believe a happy workforce is a productive workforce, and I cannot blame any of the staff at Edenvale’s Waste Removal Depot for a lack of motivation,” said Hart.

“We expect these staff to take away the community’s refuse weekly, come rain or sunshine, and the city doesn’t see fit to get the new ablutions open.

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“I am begging and pleading to see this facility opened before the end of the year as a Christmas present to the staff here,” said Hart.

She said the matter was escalated to the provincial level.

A request for comment was sent to the CoE on October 29, requesting comment by October 31 at 13:30.

At the time of going to print, the publication had received no comment.