The Democratic Alliance (DA) has tried on several occasions to communicate with the City of Matlosana’s Municipal Manager, Theetsi Nkhumise, and the Director for Community Development, Mary Molawa, regarding the interruption of refuse removal as a result of the municipality’s failure to appoint a contractor.
There has been no refuse removal in the KOSH areas since last week Friday. The municipality failed to expedite the supply chain procedure which is now causing an interruption to refuse services.
Three months ago, the DA contacted Director Molawa regarding the expiration of the refuse removal contract that would affect the use of ten refuse trucks.
The DA was informed that Director Molawa and the MM were working on a new contract, however, to date, no contract has been finalised.
There are allegations that unions are involved in querying the renewal of the contract which is unacceptable as unions do not have a right to take part in supply chain processes of appointing contractors.
The MM has failed to respond to any of the DA’s communication and to give a timeline as to when a new contractor will be appointed.
Instead, the municipality released a statement informing residents of the interruption from 23 July 2021 stating that the situation would remain like this until the unforeseen technicalities are resolved.
It is unacceptable that due to the municipality’s poor planning, residents are now suffering without services. The MM and directors must come up with a contingency plan to ensure that refuse is removed until the issue with the refuse contract is resolved.
The DA will in the next Council meeting raise questions around the procurement procedures, which in this case was of critical importance that it was resolved timeously so that residents of Matlosana are not negatively affected.
Residents cannot continue to suffer due to the municipality’s incompetence.
Where the DA governs we get things done. We will request that disciplinary action be taken against any officials failing to comply with the necessary requirements hindering service delivery.