HIGHVELD – Residents’ refuse in Bethal, Secunda, Trichardt and Evander are still not being removed by Govan Mbeki Municipality on schedule.
In some areas in Secunda, the refuse has not been removed for more than five weeks and some residents are making their own arrangements to have their refuse removed.
According to sources, the municipality does not have the money to service the trucks. The landfill site in Bethal was closed last week by the service provider due to non payment.
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According to Ms Marietjie Fourie, DA councillor, the landfill site is still closed, but steps were taken to reopen it.
The DA submitted a special motion to the municipality regarding the landfill sites and the refuse removal on Tuesday, 27 February.
The motion stated that the refuse situation is a health risk to residents.
It further stated: “The lack of regular waste removal escalated in a huge backlog and littering.
“For the past six months not even one zone was kept to the predetermined waste removal schedule. Some areas have not been serviced for a time frame of five to six weeks. Govan Mbeki is turning into the ‘dump site’ of Mpumalanga.
“Residents are ashamed to say they live in the Govan Mbeki Municipal area and choose to visit family outside the borders of the area instead of inviting them to their homes.”
“With reference to the 2017/2018 Tariff Book, domestic solid waste disposal costs R133-58 for Secunda, Bethal, Evander, Kinross and Leandra and R123-18 for eMbalenhle, Lebohang, Kinross and Charl Cilliers.
“According to the Solid Waste Management Service Standards, Page 10, bullet 6: ‘On occasion where refuse is not collected per schedule as a result of vehicle breakage, the services will be rendered as soon as possible up to a maximum period of one week.
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“Business, industrial, schools and institutions’ solid waste disposal is charged per unit removed.
“The status quo with regard to waste removal is clearly a health risk and billing is in violation of the tariffs approved by this council, therefore the waste removal needs the urgent attention of the council.
“I submit that a recovery plan is submitted within seven days and is implemented immediately, and secondly that refunds are processed for areas where waste was not removed as we cannot expect the community to pay for a service that was not rendered.
“Currently the community is paying twice as they have to use private contractors to remove their waste while they are still paying a waste removal tariff to Govan Mbeki Municipality.
“The billing is also in violation of the tariff book and could result in litigation costs for Govan Mbeki Municipality.”
The Ridge Times contacted the municipality for comment, but they did not respond at the time of going to press.
