The Gauteng municipality where rubbish is collected once a month
VANDERBIJLPARK — Residents of Emfuleni have endured household rubbish collections as infrequently as once a month while millions of rand meant to provide municipal vehicles are now at the centre of a corruption case linked to a wider police investigation into the murder of a municipal employee.
Emfuleni Local Municipality has acknowledged that until recently it was collecting household waste only once a month. Collections have since improved to once every two weeks, but the municipality is attempting to provide the service with just 22 trucks.
The situation is part of a much wider deterioration in one of Gauteng’s troubled municipalities, where residents are also dealing with damaged roads, ageing infrastructure and illegal dumping while questions continue over money spent on equipment and infrastructure intended to improve services.
Emfuleni’s own planning documents acknowledge deteriorating roads, collapsing stormwater, water and sewer networks and ineffective solid-waste management, which it describes as a health hazard contributing to urban decay. The municipality has also struggled with debts to Eskom and Rand Water and weak revenue collection.
The waste problem has now become entangled with a criminal investigation.
A company linked to businessman Mpho Malema was contracted to supply vehicles intended to support municipal services. The National Prosecuting Authority alleges that Emfuleni ordered and paid approximately R16 million for 18 vehicles that were not delivered as contracted. Seven have since been recovered from other entities, while the remaining vehicles were still outstanding when Malema appeared in court last month.
Malema faces corruption, fraud and theft charges alongside municipal fleet manager Lerato Selaelo Mpholo. The NPA alleges Mpholo received R50,000 and other undisclosed payments from Malema in exchange for facilitating fleet procurement contracts. Malema was granted R30,000 bail in September. The allegations have not yet been proven in court.
Emfuleni acting mayoral spokesperson Lucky Shashaoka told EWN the missing equipment had consequences beyond refuse collection because the procurement included machinery such as graders and TLBs needed to clear illegal dumps and perform other municipal work.
The investigation has taken an even more serious turn following the killing of senior municipal clerk Martha Mani Rantsofu, who was shot dead in March.
Police are investigating whether her killing could be connected to the vehicle procurement and other alleged wrongdoing at Emfuleni. Previous reporting has identified Rantsofu as an employee who raised concerns about irregularities involving the fleet tender before her death. No court has established that her killing was connected to the alleged corruption.
Residents are meanwhile living with the visible consequences of municipal decline. On Sekati Street in Boipatong, badly damaged sections of road remain despite R11 million reportedly being spent through provincial intervention on rehabilitation and maintenance.
Emfuleni says it continues to invest in infrastructure and has argued that progress is being made. Its own assessment, however, has previously described a “total collapse of service provision” in areas including water and sanitation and identified inadequate equipment, staffing shortages and insufficient budgets among the problems undermining municipal operations.
With local government elections approaching, Emfuleni has become a particularly stark example of the connection between municipal governance and the services residents experience every day: from whether their rubbish is collected to whether the roads they drive on remain usable.
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