Rubbish piles up in Pretoria as city waits on tender for refuse vehicles

Uncollected rubbish piles up in the inner-city of Pretoria after a contract for leasing vehicles crucial for removing waste in the capital expired and has not been renewed. Picture: Thobile Mathonsi/African News Agency (ANA)

Uncollected rubbish piles up in the inner-city of Pretoria after a contract for leasing vehicles crucial for removing waste in the capital expired and has not been renewed. Picture: Thobile Mathonsi/African News Agency (ANA)

Published Sep 7, 2020

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Pretoria - Rubbish is piling up in the inner city of Pretoria following the expiry of the contract for leasing vehicles crucial for removing refuse in the metro.

The contract lapsed at the end of last month and could not be recommissioned. As a result disruptions in refuse collection services were experienced throughout the capital city last week due to the unavailability of vehicles.

Tshwane Head Administrator Mpho Nawa said management was working to ensure that there was no vacuum in respect of service delivery. “The City will soon update residents on the catch-up schedule to ameliorate the regrettable disruptions in services experienced,” he said.

In a statement late on Monday the City announced that refuse collection would resume and residents should put out their bins on the designated day.

At the weekend there were piles of garbage in the city centre and some parts of Arcadia, while wheelie bins stood un-emptied in the suburbs.

DA mayoral candidate Randall Williams slammed the city administrators for failing to conclude the City’s fleet contract before the previous one lapsed. This shortcoming resulted in the waste removal service being stopped, he said.

“In correspondence sent out to service providers the City’s waste management division indicated that waste removal trucks procured through the CSS46 tender must cease operations.”

He accused Nawa of misleading residents when he said the contract had been extended for a month to allow for the new tender processes. Had this been the case, rubbish would have been collected and not be piling up in the streets, he said.

The tender in question was for leasing general construction vehicles, yellow plant machines, specialised vehicles and refuse removal vehicles. Nawa said a process of advertising the replacement tender started in August last year “to demonstrate the City’s eagerness to conclude the adjudication of the contract timeously”.

“Owing to challenges with respect to the bid specifications, the tender had to be re-advertised no less than three times,” he said. However the city was concluding the supply chain process to award the replacement tender, which would be done soon.

More delays could be attributed to Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, he said, “including having had a member of the evaluation team testing positive for the coronavirus”.

Meanwhile, the city has also warned against possible contamination during handling of the bins by waste pickers, and urged residents to disinfect their bins after collection. In addition, residents are reminded to remember to wash their hands with soap and water after handling the bin.

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