More proof of ANC Mismanagement

The Witness: "Mess during dump strike"
05 Feb 2009
Thando Mgaga Chaos and mess were the order of the day at the Pietermaritzburg landfill site off Woodhouse Road yesterday afternoon as residents, companies and contractors employed by the Msunduzi Municipality dumped rubbish on the main road on the orders of the site’s staff, who have downed tools and refuse to work.The staff instructed dumpers to offload their rubbish on the road, saying they are fed up with management’s neglect of the site. The pile quickly grew to include smelly domestic garbage, broken television sets, beer bottles, garden refuse and old car seats. Some of the dumpers could not stomach the mess and opted to take their loads away again. Frustrated residents told The Witness that dumping on the road would cause more harm than good, saying they were worried it would pose a health hazard for the municipal staff who would have to clean up the mess. Landfill supervisor Boyzie Molefe said the employees refused to work because they do not have equipment to carry out their duties.Molefe said management has for more than three years failed to ensure that the equipment is in good working order. The equipment includes tipper trucks that carry the rubbish to the main landfill site, water pumps to quell fires and a compressor to flatten the rubbish.He said the landfill site is in a state of disarray. The weighbridge is not operating properly following the theft of computers and hard drives containing information about how much each load of rubbish should cost to dump. Molefe said the manual system in place has angered some residents who have ended up refusing to pay. He said that previously, residents would be provided with a slip from the computer giving the cost, but now some residents suspect that the charges are guesswork and feel cheated.He added that the workers want the site to be upgraded. Some protesters complained about a lack of adequate security. They said there are three security guards and that there has been a spate of thefts of batteries from the municipal vehicles recently. Zwe Hulane, deputy municipal manager for community services, which is charge of the site, convened a meeting with the site manager, the waste management manager, Molefe and SA Municipal Workers’ Union shop stewards to stop the chaos. Site manager Cyril Naidoo admitted that some of the equipment has been broken, but said it is being fixed. Hulane said the issues raised by the workers were news to him, but that he is committed to dealing with the problems. He said some of the issues were not properly handled by the site’s administration. “Some of the concerns can easily be dealt with. I am not happy about some aspects of administration and how the workers approached their concerns,” said Hulane. The parties agreed to meet again today.
thandom@witness.co.za

Comments:

Posted by Anonymous on 06 Feb 2009
If the municipality employed intelligent, honest and decent hardworking people with the will to work, I think that would solve half the problems at the dump. The other half is that the municipality are wasting so much of our money, and not allocating sufficient funds to equipment and infrastructure maintenance and expansion - but they drive around in fancy cars which we pay for! The municipality needs to get their priorities right.