Opposition parties have called on Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis of the Democratic Alliance (DA) to suspend Mayco member Grant Twigg amid an explosive report into the collapse of waste removal services in the city.
In the report leaked to the media, it states that the formation of a new ‘in-house” model for waste removal was undertaken with no delegated authority by Twigg and his executive director Luzuko Mdunyelwa.
According to the internal report given to councillors at the last council meeting in December, the new model resulted in High Court action against the municipality and had a staggering budget of R514 million in a cost comparison.
Investigators blame both Twigg and Mdunyelwa for the collapse of the service in over 300 townships.
Dawayne Jacobs of the National Coloured Congress says while serving on the Urban Waste Management Services Portfolio Committee there had often been questions about the rollout of services.
One was why the 220 trucks which are manned by the City were not being used.
Jacobs says: “We asked about why the model was changed if there was no proper in-house system in place, but we got no answers as they [DA] are the majority and just steamrolled us.”
Cheslyn Steenberg of the Patriotic Alliance says vulnerable residents in the poorest communities were hard-hit by the failed plans.
He accused Hill-Lewis of cadre deployment and called for a probe into all officials involved in the skandaal.
He says: “The Mayor has formerly suspended Mayco members, like Zahid Badroodien, even before investigations started but not Twigg? If the DA wants to slam the ANC for cadre deployment, they should look internally first.”
GOOD party caucus leader, Suzette Little, says the contents of the report were enough to warrant Twigg’s suspension.
Hill-Lewis did not respond to questions on whether or not Twigg would be suspended but said: “The Mayco Member did the right thing in expressing his concern about the quality of delivery from private contractors in informal settlements.
“It must also be noted that there is no suggestion of any impropriety. The desired outcome was, and remains, cleaner informal settlements and better service for residents living there.”
