Riots negatively impact services

The protests nationwide have also hit Kempton Park and motorists are advised to avoid the area surrounding Pretoria and Plane roads.

The road was closed off on Pretoria Road, between Albatross Street and CR Swart Drive. In a statement released by the Gauteng government at the time of going to press, spokesperson Vuyo

Mhaga said the provincial government remains concerned about the impact of the protests on the provision of services in Gauteng.

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“The situation is being assessed by the provincial law-enforcement agencies who are now being assisted by the South African National Defence Force,” stated Mhaga.

“The volatile environment resulted in people struggling to get to their places of employment due to limited access, and services being disrupted across the province.

“To this end, some provincial government services, including vaccination sites in the affected areas, have had to temporarily close due to safety concerns by both the staff and members of the public. Emergency Medical Services teams are also experiencing difficulty in responding to distress calls in communities due to limited access.

“As Gauteng and the country are still in the midst of a deadly pandemic, the provincial government remains concerned at the potential spread of Covid-19 during such super-spreader events.

“Hospital admissions continue to increase and are placing a heavy strain on the healthcare system in both public and private sectors,” said Mhaga.

The City of Ekurhuleni also stated that turnaround time to attending to service requests and providing other services such as waste collection, power and water outages may be delayed due to sporadic riots witnessed in the region.

“Some city officials might also have been unable to get to work due to road blockages in different areas,” said CoE spokesperson Zweli Dlamini.

Residents who have not had their waste collected are encouraged to keep their waste bins outside as the city is working to clear the backlog.

Service complaints and requests must still be lodged from the necessary platforms, such as the My COE app, call centre on 0860 543 000, Twitter @CoE_Call_Centre and call.centre@ekurhuleni.gov.za

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