The issue was raised during Friday’s emergency council sitting, but Mayor Diphala Motsepe refused to engage with opposition parties in a debate on the matter, citing that the issue was dealt with by the council during an earlier sitting.

The levy was approved in November 2020 during an ordinary council sitting.

The monthly levy for garden refuse removal is R45, excluding VAT for all account holders.

During a community meeting last Thursday in Mayor Motsepe’s parlour to address ongoing riots, some church leaders said that their churches are charged up to R1 200 for garden refuse removal.

In 2014, the municipality rolled out the garden refuse removal service by appointing contractors in Nasaret, Hlalamnandi and Extension 24. The project was also rolled out to Mhluzi with one truck and six Expanded Public Works Programme employees hired for the job.

Council, however, decided in November last year to do away with the contractors and utilise the municipality’s internal resources for garden refuse removal, with a different collection schedule than that of normal household rubbish removal.

Residents are, however, up in arms over the levy because not everyone has garden refuse, and the vast majority of Middelburg residents only sporadically have garden refuse for removal.

The municipality also only collects garden litter that can fit in an 85-litre bag or the old black bins. Residents are still responsible for disposing of large branches and stumps.

The issue was also used to stoke riot flames last week.

When opposition parties tried to raise the matter during Friday’s emergency sitting to open up electricity sales to all residents despite outstanding municipal debts, and to address data cleansing challenges associated with the indigent list, they were silenced.

“Stick to the item on the agenda, we can address this in the future at ordinary sittings,” Mayor Motsepe told DA and EFF councillors hammering the ANC for clarity on why the levy has been introduced.