Ratepayers sceptical about eThekwini’s quick return to normalcy

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The Westville Ratepayers’ Association says it is not convinced that the situation in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal, will return to normal any time soon. This is despite the local municipality’s announcement that normalisation would begin on Friday, following more than two weeks of unprotected strike action by its workers.

The action by workers affiliated with the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) has paralysed the city, affecting water, electricity and waste management.

The association’s Chairperson, Asad Gaff says, “We’ve been trying to solve this issue. Obviously, we are going to have to step in. I mean three weeks of waste not being collected is a crisis. So, we managed to speak to the city and get involved, and they gave us permission to organise vehicles and remove the waste under the protection of security services and metro. So we started to collect waste around Westville and the smell is absolutely disgusting.”

Full interview with Gaff:

-Reporting by Diteboho Ntimane