The degeneration of the refuse collection services in Nelson Mandela Bay is leading to NMB Councillors being inundated with calls of outrage from residents across the city.
The complaints are not isolated to any one area – refuse is piling up in wards from KwaNobuhle, Uitenhage, the Northern Areas, Motherwell, New Brighton and the so-called suburban areas.
Refuse collection staff are notorious for poor service delivery and they regularly embark on unlawful strikes and go-slows.
President Cyril Ramaphosa recently made very disparaging comments about how dirty the city is.
It is important to note that during the tenure of the DA-led coalition government we won environmental prizes in 2017 and 2018 for our efforts at cleaning up the city.
The NMB Department of Public Health was used by former Mayoral Committee Member (MMC) for Public Health and current NMB Executive Mayor, Cllr Mongameli Bobani, as a cash cow where irregular contracts were awarded to service providers who were providing a parallel service at double the cost. Public Health management staff and workers that were suspended during Cllr Bobani’s tenure as MMC, have all been reinstated under his leadership of the governing coalition of corruption.
The impact of this unlawful meddling is having a profound effect on the performances of the directorate as management and workers act with impunity. This situation does not only exacerbate the inefficiency of the department, it has alsoresulted in driving up the overtime costs as staff sabotage vehicles and scheduled collection programs. This is being done in order for staff to conduct their work after official work hours and on weekends.
We have also discovered that the departments of Infrastructure and Engineering and Public Health are endeavouring to secure more refuse removal vehicles. I have written to the City Manager to get clarity on the situation, because it is clear that the intention of these dealings are dubious. See letter attached here.
The Municipality has recently launched a cleaning and greening city wide project and this is being funded to the tune of R100 million over the next three financial years. This project entails the appointment of cooperatives that are set to augment the current refuse removal services. These cooperative are also to assist with the eradication of illegal dumping through public education and the collection of litter from inaccessible areas. There has however been no sign of any positive impact.
The DA is determined to hold the coalition of corruption to account and in fact we intend to replace this failing government and will make sure that any intentions to steal and subvert Public Health funds will be exposed and prevented.
The DA will also engage the relevant NMB MMCs, their provincial counterparts and national government in order to fix the current state of affairs in the Public Health Department.
Only a DA government can fight corruption, speed up basic services and clean up the Nelson Mandela Bay.