There was chaos at the City of Tshwane’s customer care walk-in-centre in Mamelodi West on Wednesday when a group of angry people stormed the building and allegedly harassed and threatened personnel.
The group, according to the municipality, claimed to be former waste management service providers who were excluded from the recently awarded tender.
The City said on X that the personnel at the Mini Munitoria customer care centre were traumatised by the incident and would undergo counselling.
“This barbaric behaviour is an indication of people who elect to use violence to get what they want. We hope community members will identify the culprits and police will act swiftly by throwing a book at them,” said the City.
The group was also accused of throwing bricks at the building and smashing some windows.
“Threats, violence and destruction of municipal property will not deter us, nor will we back down from pursuing procurement processes aimed at enhancing and improving services to our law-abiding customers who shun the use of violence and brute force,” the City said.
The violent scene followed the introduction of new service providers for waste management on July 15.
Municipal spokesperson Lindela Mashigo recently said at least 60% of the previous waste contractors have not made it back onto the new tender because of the stringent specifications aimed at improving efficiency.
In terms of the specifications, trucks must not be older than nine years, must be fitted with tracking devices and have valid e-Natis documents.
The waste collection trucks servicing households have been under amid threats of violence from disgruntled former service providers.
Last month Finance MMC Jacqui Uys said the regional ANC secretary George Matjila phoned her because he was “upset after a new tender was awarded for waste collection in the City, introducing performance requirements for contractors”.
Matjila has since denied that he has business interest in the tender, including an accusation that he wanted Mayor Cilliers Brink to be removed through a motion of no confidence because he was “upset” by strict tender requirements.
The City vowed to adopt a no-nonsense approach and clamp down harshly on criminal elements targeting waste collection trucks, which included an incident where a truck belonging to a waste service contractor was pelted with stones in Mamelodi.
In a recent media statement, municipal manager Johann Mettler said the Tshwane Metro Police Department has been instructed to adopt a no-nonsense approach to all instances of unlawful and criminal actions.
Pretoria News