Pretoria - After months of service delivery hanging in limbo at the City of Tshwane due to political bickering in the coalition government, the metro has finally taken steps to fast-track things.
The municipality, through its mayor Cilliers Brink, last week announced that first on its list was to fix the city’s finances.
The city has also closed two of its nine garden refuse sites as part of plans to improve operations and management, according to city spokesperson Lindela Mashigo.
Mashigo said the Kruger Avenue and the Waltloo garden refuse sites would be closed until May 21, to allow the city to clear the backlog at the sites.
“The two sites form part of the six that are experiencing high volumes of garden waste. Residents and garden service businesses who make use of the sites are advised to use the Menlo Park garden site on 26th Avenue, Menlo Park; Rooihuiskraal garden site in Rooihuiskraal Road; Hatherley landfill site in Solomon Mahlangu Road; and the Nelmapius and Soshanguve landfill site in Molefe Makinta Road, Soshanguve.”
He added that the two-week closure for maintenance was part of the city’s programme to prepare them for waste volumes following the implementation of “the no permit – no entry” principle, which only allows valid waste transportation permit holders access to the city’s garden waste disposal sites.
“The permit applies only to those vehicles with 1 ton or 1 000kg capacity and above, full of waste.
Private residents who are manning their gardens and generate waste material that is less than 1-ton once a week are not required to apply for the permit.”
Meanwhile, councillors in Olievenhoutbosch have complained to the municipality, saying the city had failed to deliver services to the township.
Chief among the complaints was that waste was not regularly collected, leaving the township infested with rats while roads and electricity infrastructure were being neglected.
One of the councillors, Kenny Masha, reportedly claimed their complaints to the city fell on deaf ears.
He said the municipality did not support them, which contributed to the destruction of the township.
“They don’t give us support where it’s needed.
We are left on our own because of the new administration that has taken over. We have issues of maintenance and the like. We are hoping this will improve over time,” Masha said.
Pretoria News