Note to editors: Please find attached soundbite by Councillor Mzamo Billy.
The Democratic Alliance in eThekwini has written to the head of Cleansing and Solid Waste (CSW), Raymond Rampersad, to request an urgent investigation into the R560 million that was approved by Council to purchase new DSW fleet.
This follows an oversight inspection by the DA’s eThekwini Human Settlements and Infrastructure (HSI) committee member at the eThekwini Municipality’s CSW fleet workshop. View photos here, here and here.
The aim of the oversight was to see some of the old vehicles and heavy plant now needing an additional R18,15 million to be maintained and keep operating. Today we learnt that these vehicles are between 10 to 25 years old. R57 million had already been provided to the DSW workshop this financial year and has already been exhausted for maintenance and repairs of the old fleet.
This, even though in 2020, council approved funding of R560 million for the CSW fleet replacement programme over the next four financial years. In June 2021, council approved R176 million for the new CSW fleet. Through the visit we have also learnt that there’s hardly been any new fleet delivered and the workshop continues to be inundated with trucks that are old and breaking down requiring attention.
Evidently the report which request for the additional funds also mentions that to date delivery of the new fleet has not happened, resulting in a need to fix the old fleet at an extra cost. This is extremely concerning.
It is even more shocking that the eThekwini municipality continues to fund the repairing of fleet that has clearly reached and gone beyond its lifespan instead of prioritizing the replacement of the fleet with new vehicles.
The DA at the recent Human Settlement and Infrastructure Committee meeting voted against the request for the additional request to fix old vehicles, citing some serious concerns with the municipality’s bad planning and the unjustifiable delays in the procurement and delivery of the new fleet. It is absurd to continue to fund, with millions the continuous repairing of seriously compromised vehicles at the expense of the taxpayers while there is clearly a need to procure new vehicles. This expenditure is redundant and disingenuous to the ratepayers.
Meanwhile, DA-run Cape Town has recently bought 10 new refuse removal vehicles that cost R25.5 million in total. eThekwini municipality should learn from the city of Cape Town and prioritize a responsible collection and disposal of solid waste without bringing service delivery to a standstill.