Durban – The DA in eThekwini has called on the city to consider a partnership with a private enterprise to manage its waste saying the Durban Solid Waste Unit was failing to manage waste collection services on its own.
“It is a fact that eThekwini municipality’s inability to manage refuse in the city has already reached unprecedented levels, particularly in the collection and transportation of refuse and street cleaning, and litter removal.
“This has already seriously compromised service delivery, with refuse piling up in residential and commercial areas which is a health hazard,” said DA councillor Mzamo Billy.
Billy was reflecting on the news that the head of DSW Raymond Rampersad tendered his resignation and that the unit was running out of money to pay its overtime bill.
Billy is a member of the human settlement and infrastructure services committee which oversees the foundation of DSW.
“The municipality must consider re-looking at DSW’s business model and if it is in the best interest of the municipality and the residents of this city for the unit to continue managing waste or if it is time that we begin to look into the idea of a public-private partnership with other reputable waste management stakeholders,” said Billy.
Speaking on the challenge of overtime in the unit, Billy said, “following the eThekwini council resolution to cut overtime budget by 50%, the human settlement and infrastructure committee has not appraised us with an up-to-date report on the progress made in terms of any savings made since then”.
“It is completely absurd that there are still constraints in the budget even though we have put in place these measures to deal with the millions of rands that were being stolen for overtime pay for illegal working hours,” he said.