Port Elizabeth - eThekwini acting Mayor Fawzia Peer on Friday has called on the residents of Umlazi to isolate rogue elements hell bent on derailing its plan of insourcing work announced recently.
This after five Durban solid waste workers were attacked on Friday by an unknown group of men while working in the township. Municipal vehicles were not spared as several of their windows were smashed.
“I am very astounded by this barbaric act. Who in their right state of mind would attack municipal employees who were solely in the area to collect refuse?
"Our residents of Umlazi deserve much better and there is nothing that is going to stand on our way to carry out this plan of insourcing," Peer said.
"This is an act of high treason because the municipality is literally being stopped to discharge its constitutional responsibility by criminals who do not care a damn about the welfare of the community,” Peer said.
She called upon the people of Umlazi to isolate these "hooligans" by urgently reporting them to the police.
“Our residents in Umlazi must partner with us in resisting this illicit behaviour. If this continues, it could result in a situation where our employees will be reluctant to work in the area for safety reasons.
"That would then drag us back to a situation where innocent residents were compelled to contend with heaps of uncollected rubbish. We do not owe anyone anything and we call upon our law enforcement agencies to aggressively do their work without fear or favour," the mayor said.
"This is the country that is governed by the rule of law and any one undermining it must be dealt with severely, within the parameters of the law,” Peer said.
Peer, wished all workers injured in the incident a speedy recovery.