Estate residents outraged after being charged for waste removal they don’t use
Residents currently have an agreement with a private service provider, authorised by the municipality, to collect, recycle and dispose of their rubbish.
The metro has urged residents and estates in Ward 101 in the east of Pretoria to formally lodge complaints over their city waste removal charges.
This follows mounting frustration from estates being billed for services they do not receive from the municipality.
“Suddenly, all estates in my ward are being charged waste fees in excess of R394 excluding VAT,” said Ward 101 councillor Malcolm de Klerk.
“It started with one estate a couple of months ago, now all of a sudden all the estates are getting charged for waste removal even though they use private removal,” he explained.
De Klerk said they are being billed despite no Tshwane collection, while also being charged for private removal.
“It is worrying because there’s been a decade-long agreement in some cases with Tshwane that these estates will collect their own waste via private contractors and not be charged by the city.”
He said they were being doubly taxed, and residents were furious.
“The residents demand that Tshwane remove the charges immediately, and I support them on this call. They’re charging the residents illegally and unfairly for something not agreed to or services rendered. It’s stealing from overburdened taxpayers,” he said.
DA spokesperson for Finance, Jacqui Uys, said the metro had added bin removal charges to accounts that do not use the city’s bin removal services.
“It seems as if all complexes and estates that have previously cancelled and do not use the city’s waste removal services now have these services added on to their account again,” she explained.
Uys said these properties must individually log a query to have it removed again.
A resident in Silverlakes Golf Estate, Jacques Viljoen, said for the past 13 years he has never been charged for waste removal by Tshwane until recently.
“What is the waste management charge because Tshwane does not provide this service in Silver Lakes?
First, Tshwane make us pay for our own road maintenance, and now they charge us for a service they do not provide. It makes no sense at all.
“Tshwane has now decided to raise a charge of R450 per month, per household, for a service they don’t provide.”
Lenell Lee, Cormallen Hill Residential Estate manager, said to the best of their knowledge, residents have not received notice from the municipality that refuse removal services would commence in the area.
“No attempt has been made by the municipality to deliver waste bins, and no service schedule has been communicated, meaning they are charging residents for what they do not deliver.”
Lee said residents currently have an agreement with a private service provider, authorised by the municipality to collect, recycle and dispose of their refuse in a compliant and responsible manner.
“It appears that residents are still required to make use of private service providers as the municipality has shown no intent to actually provide a municipal service for the waste management tariff charged, in some instances, since December last year.”
She said although the municipality recently proposed the introduction of a city cleaning fee of R185 per month for residents who make use of private service providers in the 2025-2026 budget, residents are charged for waste management.
No service is rendered by the municipality for the tariff charged, she added.
“The purpose of the city cleaning fee remains to be seen, as the private service provider is already paying a fee for using the municipality’s dumping sites. Attempts to have accounts rectified and queries raised had no results.”
Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the reported recent incidents of the city charging estates, which did not historically have waste charged on their municipal accounts, might be in error.
“However, each case would have to be investigated to confirm the correctness of the claims. The city takes cognisance of these claims and will treat this matter with the urgency it deserves,” said Mashigo.
He said the city, in terms of its waste management by-law, has a provision to recognise and permit private service providers to deliver waste removal services.
“In cases where a private service provider, duly authorised by the city, is providing a waste removal service, the city would therefore not knowingly charge an estate for the same service of removing waste from the premises. This would be double billing,” explained Mashigo.
Mashigo said the city urged the affected estates to engage the city’s processes of logging complaints and queries for this to be amicably resolved.
Ways to log queries:
– The city has customer care walk-in centres strategically placed in all regions; customers can therefore visit these centres for assistance with municipal service-related complaints and queries.
– Alternatively, customers can send an email to CustomerS@tshwane.gov.za or call 012 358 9999.
– In reference to this matter about incorrect waste billing, customers may also direct their queries to WasteManagement@tshwane.gov.za.
Mashigo said the city’s billing system has effective data integrity and accuracy control measures.
“In addition to the effective controls on our systems, the city periodically runs verification exercises. As an example, the city recently concluded a waste billing data physical verification exercise, wherein agents were visiting households (including estates) to confirm that waste infrastructure (bins) on the ground is consistent with what is on our electronic billing system.”
Mashigo added that as part of this exercise, the city was also in communication with estates, confirming areas serviced by private waste service providers.
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