The City of Ekurhuleni admitted on Wednesday that they face challenges regarding refuse removal in the city.
“We are addressing and normalising the situation,” said spokesperson Themba Gadebe.
According to him, the backlog has been cleared and the refuse removal process can start on a clean slate.
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This response follows an ongoing refuse removal crisis in Kempton Park.
“There is a complete lack of service delivery from the waste department,” DA spokesperson for human settlements in Ekurhuleni, Mabenkenyane Thamahane, said in a recent statement.
The crisis had escalated to such levels that the DA 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.
On August 2, fed-up Birch Acres residents threatened to dump their uncollected refuse at Kempton Park Civic Centre.
At the time, Nick Moela, acting regional executive manager for northern service delivery, told Express the depot has a shortage of trucks, which explained why they struggled to stick to the refuse removal schedule.
The municipality has since expressed its regret towards the situation.
“We apologise to our ratepayers for the inconvenience,” Gadebe concluded.
