The city’s refuse removal crisis last week was apparently due to a labour dispute.
Residents in the city experienced major problems with their garbage removal occurring late, with trash bags seen accumulating in front of houses and living complexes, making it “look like a pigsty,” as resident, Ms Mary Schatz, remarked.
The drivers of the refuse trucks were initially employed on a temporary basis, and when permanent appointments had to be made after three months, departments deadlocked on the details.
Spokesman for Mbombela Local Municipality (MLM), Mr Joseph Ngala, confirmed they had experiencing “internal challenges” with the drivers. Ngala denied that anyone had gone on strike by downing tools and refusing to work.
He indicated that the grievance on the side of the drivers were that they had to cover quite a number of areas in limited time to perform their duties. However, this was sorted out on Tuesday of last week.
“The matter of acting drivers was finalised last week, and they have been appointed permanently,” he said.
“A total of 18 employees were appointed on a permanent basis, some of whom are drivers and others team leaders.”
It took some time to catch up with the removal of garbage although the whole of Koraalboomstraat is still lined with many trash bags. Ngala said they were working overtime to clean it up: On Wednesday morning they were behind schedule, but started catching up at 07:00.
A private company, WasteTech, was also appointed to help “deal with the backlog that occurred due to the non-participation of those drivers that were on acting capacity”.
MLM has made R4,2 million available this financial year to purchase a waste-collection fleet. According to Ngala, two trucks have been purchased, which are expected to be delivered around January.
Unsanctioned overtime work has been an issue at MLM for a while, and the municipality introduced a new policy earlier this year to curb the expenses.
“The municipality is implementing a council-approved overtime policy applicable to all departments,” Ngala said, adding, “Management cannot allow tailor-made policy for individual departments.”
Mr Jo Koster, DA ward councillor, said, “It is such a pity that the town looks like that due to misunderstandings between departments.”
