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Waste removal services restored in affected Ekurhuleni areas

Ernest Mabuza Journalist
Waste removal services in a number of areas in Ekurhuleni were affected. Some residents dumped their waste in open fields. File photo.
Waste removal services in a number of areas in Ekurhuleni were affected. Some residents dumped their waste in open fields. File photo.
Image: Alaister Russell/Sunday Times

The City of Ekurhuleni said on Thursday it has moved swiftly to restore waste removal services in various areas that were affected in the past few weeks. 

The municipality said areas including Langaville, Wattville, Daveyton-Etwatwa, Duduza, Kwa-Thema, Norkem Park, Thokoza and Palm Ridge were all affected by  unforeseen glitches which led to service providers not being paid, thus suspending their services.

“After an engagement with the city’s waste management turnaround task team early [on Thursday], service providers agreed to hit the ground running. The task team was established to among other mandates, normalise waste removal services after the collapse of the service in some areas in recent weeks,” the municipality said.

Ekurhuleni mayor Tania Campbell said “the first [mandate] is to get waste collection back on track with immediate effect”.

The municipality said waste removal teams were working round the clock to ensure the backlog generated was cleared by the weekend so that from next week, the service followed the normal collection schedule.

“We have addressed issues with the service providers who had pulled out their resources, and work has resumed in earnest to collect waste in the affected areas,” metro spokesperson Zweli Dlamini said.

Dlamini said special attention would also be paid to clear backlogs at public offloading facilities, which were overflowing due to the disruption.

The municipality apologised for the inconvenience.

TimesLIVE