Cape Town - The City of Cape Town’s urban waste management directorate says it has dispatched more officials to tend to rubbish that has begun to pile up in some informal settlements across the city.
The City department’s office released a statement on Wednesday, announcing that it would be increasing its efforts after noting reports of ongoing refuse collection delays.
Areas and parts of communities affected by the collection delays include Khayelitsha, Delft, Wallacedene, Driftsands, Fairdale, Dunoon, Atlantis, Philippi, Gugulethu and Langa.
Urban waste management department head Grant Twigg said the directorate’s teams would be extending their internal resources to service the areas usually done by contractors.
Twigg said the City was aware of the exact situation on the ground in affected local communities settlements in Cape Town.
“Cleansing services in these areas have unfortunately been affected since July 1, 2023. Since then, City teams have been servicing affected areas by extending their internal resources and will continue until further notice.
“Currently, we are deploying cleansing workers from other programmes in the city, including specialised cleansing services to clear dumping hotspots, and are working over weekends to address the situation on the ground.
“Unfortunately, there is not enough staff available to realistically compensate for the absence of normal planned programmes currently,” he said.
Twigg also commented that despite the ongoing issue, the City department is following due process towards resuming its normal cleansing services urgently, and is looking at all options as well as acquiring alternative cleansing services for all disrupted areas for August.
He said: “We understand the dire nature of this situation, and everything possible is being done to expedite a solution. The City sincerely regrets any inconvenience caused to residents who have been negatively affected by this disruption.”