The DA in the province says the timeous and scheduled removal of household waste remains a serious problem with potentially devastating health consequences for Mangaung residents.

This has, however, been followed with a response from the metro which says a plan of action is already afoot to deal with the backlog in collecting this refuse. The municipal spokesperson, Qondile Khedama, says the Solid Waste directorate has put in extra resources (personnel and fleet) to attend to the refuse collection backlog that was caused as a result of staff shortages. 

Khedama says this approach will roll out in phases and reach all the affected regions in the City where refuse collection has fallen short.

Khedama says as part of cost-containment measures, the City has contained overtime and, as a result, the waste collection schedule was affected. In terms of the law, a team in a truck can only collect 800 households' refuse.

He adds that this would require waste management to have 60 teams/trucks per day and at the moment there are only 25 tracks on average per day. "To deal with the backlog and staff shortage, we have put ten trucks and teams together, drawn from different sub-divisions, instead of five."

The Democratic Alliance councillor, Tjaart van der Walt, says many areas in Mangaung have not had waste removal services for the past 21 days and counting. He says this is in direct contravention of the Constitution and the Waste Act: National Standards for Domestic Waste Collection.

He has further raised a concern that the delay in waste removal creates a breeding and feeding ground for rodents and other pests.  Van der Walt adds that the waste will eventually block the stormwater drain system, and this will have dire consequences in the already poorly maintained water and sewerage infrastructure.

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