Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork

Chapter 6: Down at the dumpsMsunduzi inherited a substantial waste infrastructure from the erstwhile City council,including a substantial fleet of collection vehicles and the New England Road landfill,the largest in the area. It collects from 63,000 households but excludes one urban and allrural areas within its boundaries. It is estimated to produce 74% of uMgungundlovu’sdomestic waste, amounting to 65,700 tonnes of a year.The other six local municipalities within uMgungundlovu are centred on smaller townsand have minimal waste infrastructure. Waste collection services centre on previouslywhite towns and have been extended to some, but not all, neighbouring townships.Waste is not collected from several large and dense settlements, from black rural areasor from commercial farms. The IWMP estimates that the six municipalities generateover 23,000 tonnes of domestic waste a year, but that 60% (14,000 tonnes) is notcollected. District official Riaz Jogiat believes the real figure for the district (includingMsunduzi) is more like 50,000 tonnes of uncollected waste. In consequence, the areais littered with informal dumps. To dispose of the waste that is collected, two of thesmaller municipalities transport it over considerable distances to New England Road,three have upgraded dumps now designated as landfills and one has a newly developedlined landfill – but does not have the capacity or resources to run it.Waste is generally a low priority for all the municipalities and budgets range frominadequate to paltry. Waste is also low on central government’s priorities: only 5%of the municipal infrastructure grant may be spent on waste and central governmentfunding does not cover waste operations. Jogiat notes that the new Waste Bill makesno provision for such funding.The Waste Bill also does not distinguish between district and local municipalities. Atpresent, the district is responsible for planning and has taken responsibility for landfilldevelopment. Operations is a local responsibility. This separation of functions, saysJogiat, is a recipe for failure as the information necessary for planning is not available.Indeed, information for almost every table in the IWMP is unavailable or incomplete.The smaller municipalities do not have the capacity and operational systems to produceit. Msunduzi, on the other hand, has withheld strategic information.A bitter rivalry between Msunduzi and Mgungundlovu is symptomatic of the generalmalaise of governance. It is characterised by constant restructuring, which reflectsinter-governmental power struggles as much as attempts to rationalise responsibilities,and dysfunctional administrations. Here, the power relations between district and- 152 - groundWork - Wasting the Nation