Fed-up Birch Acres residents’ refuse removal pleas were finally heard after they threatened to dump their uncollected refuse at Kempton Park Civic Centre on Thursday afternoon last week. “We are serious about this,” Birch Acres resident Elsa Kotze told Express. “The smell is unbearable and it is a serious health hazard.”
Together with other upset residents, Kotze gave the municipality an ultimatum: remove the refuse by 3pm, or residents will drive through the streets with a contractor, collect the garbage and dump it at the civic centre.
By 3pm the wheelie bins were emptied but not without hiccups.
“Municipal workers refused to take all my refuse bags,” Koba Keizer told Express. “They tried to intimidate me for a bribe.”
She claimed the workers did not directly ask for a bribe but insinuated they would not remove extra bags without something in return.
According to her, the reason residents have so many bags in the first place is because the municipality fails to collect them on designated days, or not at all.
Carlos Castanheira wasn’t happy with the state of service delivery either.
“It takes a considerable time to empty a single bin, no wonder they cannot cope with the task,” he wrote in a WhatsApp message to Kotze. “We do not appreciate the attitude of the collectors either. They moan and groan about extra bags they have to collect.”
Nick Moela, acting regional executive manager for northern service delivery, told Express telephonically on Monday that the depot currently has a shortage of trucks, which explains why they struggle to stick to the refuse removal schedule.
“We always communicate to ward councillors when we cannot collect refuse on time,” he said. He added that the depot would get assistance from Edenvale and Bedfordview depots, which would hopefully help solve the problem. Ward councillor Tracey Lourenco believes residents are living in a crisis.
“I’ve sent multiple complaints about intimidation and lack of refuse removal to the head of environmental resources management, Victor Nesengani.”
Birch Acres is not alone in its refuse woes. The entire Kempton Park, it seems, is facing a crisis.
“There is a complete lack of service delivery from the waste department,” DA spokesperson for human settlements in Ekurhuleni, Mabenkenyane Thamahane, said in a statement. For this reason, the DA has called for the removal of Ndosi Shongwe, MMC for Environment and Waste Management Services.
According to Thamahane, residents’ wheelie bins are not collected and refuse lines the streets. When waste is collected, Thamahane added, the streets are littered with waste.
“We cannot allow this level of service delivery to become the norm. It is time to take a stand, as residents grow increasingly frustrated at the low levels of service delivery by the City of Ekurhuleni.”
