Note to Editors: Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Cllr Tjaart van der Walt and Sesotho soundbite by Cllr Kabelo Moreeng. See attached pictures here, here, and here.
Mangaung Metro’s waste collection system is on the verge of total collapse. This is the inevitable result of years of ANC mismanagement, the South African Municipal Workers’ Union’s (SAMWU) interference, a lack of performance management, and the municipality’s failure to implement DA-proposed solutions.
This week, residents were informed that refuse collection would not be according to schedule.
- The Monday and Tuesday areas will only be serviced on Wednesday and Thursday.
- Areas from Tuesday and Wednesday will spill over into Friday.
- By Friday, the areas that were outstanding on Wednesday and Thursday will still be uncollected, leaving many suburbs without service.
With overtime capped at 40 hours per month, a limit already reached, Mangaung is unlikely to provide weekend services. Rubbish will pile up in the streets, fuelling illegal dumping and violating the NEMA Waste Act.
This latest breakdown follows the exact pattern the DA has exposed since 2018. That year, the DA laid charges under the Waste Act when Mangaung repeatedly violated the requirement that waste be collected once per week.
In 2020, the DA submitted motions urging the metro to adopt a waste-reduction strategy, invest in recycling and landfill alternatives, and formalise partnerships with waste pickers. These remain ignored.
In 2022, we exposed SAMWU-driven sabotage, intimidation of managers, and overtime abuse, with some workers demanding more overtime than their salaries.
Instead of implementing consequence management and investing in landfill capacity, Mangaung chose silence and inaction. While collection stabilised in recent years, no sustainable solution has been implemented.
Now residents face overflowing bins, health hazards, and the humiliation of paying for services not delivered.
Businesses and complexes paying for trade waste collection are also left in chaos, with no clear communication on removal schedules. This hits ratepayers twice, through bills and private contractors.
The DA demands urgently that the municipal manager, executive mayor, and head of Community Services urgently:
- Clearly communicate the reasons and solutions for the backlog, as well as the progress made in recovery.
- Enforce “no work, no pay” and consequence management for workers, supervisors, or managers who refuse shifts or slow-strike.
- Collaborate with community organisations to implement affordable contingency plans.
We have written to the Municipal Manager, Sello More; HOD, Thabang Thiba; and Executive Mayor, Gregory Nthlatsi, to inform them of contraventions and demand immediate intervention.
Where the ANC hides in silence, a DA government is visible, accountable, and solutions-driven. In DA-run municipalities, leaders face residents, answer questions, and implement credible recovery plans.
Mangaung cannot be allowed to rot into a dumping ground. Only decisive action, accountability, and community partnership can rescue this Metro.
The DA will continue to fight for a clean, safe city and for a government that delivers the services residents pay for.