The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) on Thursday called for a municipal state of emergency to be declared in Pretoria.
”A municipal state of emergency must be declared in terms of the Disaster Management Act number 57 of 2002 in order to prevent a waste disaster in Pretoria,” said the party’s Conrad Beyers.
This was in response to the ongoing South African Municipal Workers’ (Samwu) strike.
Beyers said the Tshwane metro council misled residents by declaring that things would be back to normal this Monday.
”The stinking waste mountains in the streets of Pretoria are beginning to look like the heaps of waste in Naples in Italy.
”In Italy, Prime Minister Sylvio Berlusconi took special measures to help solve the waste crisis in Naples. Similar steps are now necessary to address the crisis in Pretoria”, he said.
The party said further neglect by the African National Congress to make alternative arrangements for waste removal could lead to a disaster in the city.
”While the problem could have been effectively dealt with at a much earlier stage, the fact that the ANC acted as passive spectators created a serious crisis. This is the worst city administration in the history of Pretoria”, Beyers added.
City spokesperson Console Tleane said the FF Plus has misinterpreted the Act.
”Section one of the Act defines what a disaster is. It includes any natural or human-caused act that may cause or threatens to cause death, injury or disease; damage to property, infrastructure or the environment; or disruption of the life of a community; and cope with its effects using only their own resources; or is of a magnitude that exceeds the ability of those affected by the disaster.”
”Against the background of what has happened in the city it should be clear to everyone who has cared to read the Act carefully that there is no need to declare a disaster,” said Tleane.
He said that waste removal was being addressed and that workers were clearing the backlog caused by the strike.
”Secondly, the city has effected contingency plans by getting extra capacity to clear the backlog. There is therefore no material basis for the call which is not based on facts,” said Tleane.
On Monday and Wednesday, union spokesperson Zebulon Monkoe maintained that the strike was continuing.
He could not be reached for comment on Thursday afternoon. – Sapa