Waste removal, not only in Kempton Park but also the whole of Ekurhuleni, is headed for disaster.
In Kempton Park the weekly service of wheelie bins remains a big concern.
An added headache now is the mini-dumping sites all over the metro, including the Norkem Park and Highveld Road transfer stations.
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These stations are filled to capacity and cannot handle more waste brought there by residents.
The problem, says Ald André du Plessis, DA shadow MMC environmental development, is that no contractors are available to remove waste from these mini-sites.
“Their contracts expired on June 30 and no new contractors had been appointed,” Du Plessis said.
Du Plessis became aware of the problem on Sunday when residents were not allowed to dump at the Atlasville mini-station.
“This is now escalating out of control. Garden services, small contractors and even residents are reluctant to drive to landfill sites, which could lead to more illegal dumping taking place.
“We warned the MMC not to allow council to do away with the head of department (HOD) position for waste, as well as three divisional heads who left on June 30. That entire department is now in crisis and needs serious and urgent intervention,” he added.
“What now becomes a worry to me is the fact that the Kempton depot really does not care about any discussions. We set a very clear and achievable goal for all the backlogs to be resolved by Sunday. This was agreed upon and we communicated it to our residents. Monday comes and nothing has changed,” Du Plessis added.Kempton Express is waiting for comment from the metro.
