Two weeks after the strike by Buffalo City Metro workers came to an end, the stench of large piles of uncollected refuse still lingers in parts of the city.
Mounds of black bags can still be seen in commercial and residential areas despite the municipality committing to having sourced private companies to deal with the backlog.
Service delivery came to a standstill for three weeks as workers protested for overdue job evaluations. Municipal infrastructure was damaged during the strike, including electricity sub-stations being torched, water pipes vandalised and litter scattered everywhere. The municipality said the damage would cost about R100m.
Municipal workers returned to work on December 7 after unions and metro bosses reached an agreement, with staff from the various departments promising to chip in to get the city clean once again.
The Dispatch on Tuesday visited some areas where residents had complained about uncollected refuse bags stacked along the road near their homes. Southernwood resident Khayakazi Mjikwa said they had to walk over the rubbish every day.
“The garbage is full of maggots. It’s hot and that makes the stench so much worse. It really is unbearable, especially because we have children who enjoy the outdoors,” she said.
Amalinda resident Phumlani Bikitsha said their rubbish was on the verge of barricading the road. “As you can see now the rubbish is a heap on the verge of overflowing into the road, and at one point it did because everybody just throws it out as they drive out and yet the municipality is not collecting.
There is a terrible smell because of this.
“While we’re constantly reading about how the municipality has hired private companies to clean up, we don’t know where exactly they’ve been assigned to clean when we are still living with garbage,” he said.
On Tuesday, BCM announced a new clean-up campaign started in an attempt to deal with the current challenges and backlogs for the duration of the week. BCM spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya said the “The Thuma Mina Campaign” started on Tuesday morning with the help of 400 volunteers.
“The clean-up will be around King William’s Town, Mdantsane and East London. The campaign is to supplement the current clean-up operations taking place following the strike. The campaign will culminate in the ongoing Service Delivery Fridays Thuma Mina Campaign currently underway,” he said.
While Ngwenya couldn’t confirm how much the volunteers would be paid or if it would cost the city, concerns were previously raised as to the R300m paid by ratepayers and taxpayers to put an end to the strike through negotiations between the union and the 365 temporary employees absorbed by the metro...