Note to Editors: Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Cllr Tjaart van der Walt and Sesotho soundbite by Cllr Tumelo Rammile. See attached pictures here, here, and here.
– Large parts of Mangaung have gone weeks without refuse collection.
– Residents pay, but services fail.
– The DA is forcing full disclosure on Mangaung’s waste management failures.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Mangaung has submitted questions in council to obtain a complete picture of the municipality’s waste management operations, including the number of operational refuse trucks, vehicles under repair, staffing levels, waste management assets, landfill capacity, operational backlogs and the municipality’s recovery plans.
For many Mangaung residents, the collapse in refuse collection is no longer an inconvenience. It has become a daily reminder of a municipality failing to fulfil one of its most basic responsibilities.
Residents across the city have endured almost three weeks of missed collections, overflowing refuse bags, rubbish scattered by animals, illegal dumping, unbearable odours and, in some cases, refuse being set alight in residential areas. All the while, residents continue to pay for a service that is increasingly not delivered.
The current crisis did not begin with the shutdown disruptions of 25 and 26 May. Backlogs, vehicle breakdowns, schedule failures and communication failures were already widespread. The shutdown simply exposed and accelerated a system that was already in decline. By the end of May, refuse collection in large parts of Mangaung had effectively collapsed, with growing backlogs, repeated missed collections, broken promises, and increasing frustration among residents who continue to pay for a service they are not receiving.
This is no longer a refuse collection problem. It is a governance problem. While residents wait for answers, refuse continues to accumulate in streets across Mangaung.
Most importantly, where is the Mayor?
At a time when residents are living with overflowing refuse and deteriorating living conditions, Mangaung requires visible leadership, accountability and decisive action. Instead, residents are being asked to accept excuse after excuse while service delivery continues to collapse.
The DA will continue to pursue accountability through council oversight processes, formal questions, SCOPA engagements, legislative oversight, regulatory complaints, and any other available mechanism to ensure that residents receive the services for which they are paying.
The decline of Mangaung did not happen overnight, and it will not be fixed by another excuse, another promise or another recovery plan that never materialises.
On 4 November, residents will have an opportunity to decide whether this decline continues or whether Mangaung begins the difficult process of recovery.
The DA is ready with a mayoral candidate and a team already preparing to govern, a plan, and a track record of delivering better governance where it governs. The choice facing residents is no longer theoretical.
It is visible on the pavements, in the streets and in the growing piles of uncollected refuse in our yards across our city.
Residents deserve a Mangaung that works, and it can!