This is according to the DA councillor Flip van der Steen.

Another lorry packed up last week, leaving the municipality with just two operational refuse lorries out of a total of nine. These two lorries have to service the entire Upington area and are now working at three times as hard. This is aggravating the risk of additional breakdowns. 

Staff members are also putting in excessive hours, which will result in massive overtime payments.

Broken vehicles are gathering dust in the municipal workshop, as there is no money for parts, rendering the workshop useless. Some vehicles have been parked there since last year. One lorry’s gearbox is broken, another’s hydraulic cylinders aren’t working while the brakes of another must be repaired at a cost of R12 000.

Service providers have also closed the municipality’s accounts due to outstanding debt owed by the municipality. In one case, an amount of R200 000 must be paid in order to retrieve the low-bed lorry that is used to transport the compactor to the rubbish dumps. This has a knock-on effect on service delivery.

The dump site is overflowing and people are dumping rubbish along the road that leads to the dump site. Residents are growing increasingly impatient and frustrated at the increasingly dirty state of the town.

The embattled municipality is now considering hiring machinery from other service providers, to help clean up the mess.

"I have been in discussion with the Chief Financial Officer about the service vehicle crisis in Dawid Kruiper. The DA is calling for short-term solutions to address the refuse removal challenge. We will also request that the council is urgently provided with a breakdown of debt owed on vehicle repairs, the further costs of repairing them as well as the current financial state of the municipality. We require a financially viable plan to keep the municipality’s wheels turning, not more debt and more unpaid accounts," said Van der Steen.

OFM News has sent an enquiry to the Dawid Kruiper Municipality and is awaiting a response.