Rubbish has been piling up across the metro and open fields have been turned into informal dumping sites because waste removal vehicles were unavailable.
JOHANNESBURG – The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality on Thursday said that it was working to remove rubbish from the streets of the capital after waste removal services ground to a halt in August.
Rubbish has been piling up across the metro and open fields have been turned into informal dumping sites because waste removal vehicles were unavailable.
The metro said the contract for leasing the vehicles lapsed at the end of August and could not be recommissioned.
Garbage continued to pile up in some parts of Tshwane including Pretoria north and Soshanguve despite the city’s promise that rubbish bins would be collected.
The city’s spokesperson Selby Bokaba said that refuse collection had resumed this week with the contracts of at least four service providers extended until month-end.
“We have extended the contract for a month while we are busy finalising the tender which we are hoping to be able to award in the next three weeks,” Bokaba said.
Bokaba said the city planned to clear the garbage backlog by the end of this week.
“They have been delays in certain areas. We have ramped up operations to clear the backlog. Our target is to ensure that by Sunday all these areas will be covered,” he said.
The metro, which has been plagued with service delivery mismanagement, had since apologised to residents.
