VANDERBIJLPARK – Operations at the Emfuleni Local Municipality came to a grinding halt on Wednesday morning after residents arriving at the Customer Care Centre were met with locked gates and a blunt notice:

“The Emfuleni offices will be locked and inaccessible from Wednesday July 30, 2025 until further notice due to non-payment of rentals.”

The shutdown, triggered by failure to pay rent for municipal premises, has intensified the crisis already plaguing the embattled municipality. In recent weeks, Emfuleni has struggled to supply diesel to its vehicle fleet, disrupting essential services such as refuse collection and firefighting. Compounding the issue, the municipality has also reportedly been battling to pay workers’ salaries on time.

Residents voiced frustration over the growing instability. “We can’t report burst pipes, we can’t pay rates, and our bins haven’t been collected in over a week,” said one local resident. “Now the doors are literally closed.”

Calls for provincial intervention are mounting, with some community groups demanding that Emfuleni be placed under full administration.

This is a developing story.