20-05-2025
A cry for dignity amid the garbage
COLUMN – What happened at the Vereeniging Civic Centre on Wednesday was not mere disorder—it was a desperate cry for dignity. Residents of Duncanville, fed up with months of uncollected refuse, dumped their trash at the doorstep of the Emfuleni Local Municipality's Service Delivery and Revenue Enhancement Summit. Bags were torn open, their contents strewn across the entrance, an unfiltered symbol of municipal failure.
How do you ask people to pay for services that don't exist? Residents like Nelmarie Ruysch raised valid concerns: refuse bills are paid under threat of power cuts, yet rubbish piles up, flies swarm, and rats breed.
Meanwhile, the municipality hosts catered summits discussing service delivery—while failing to deliver.
Officials blamed the lack of fleet, but residents pointed to waste trucks seen buying alcohol or sitting idle. The contradiction between what's promised and what is delivered couldn't be starker.
This protest was not so much about politics.
It was about the basic right to a clean, safe environment.
The public's faith in Emfuleni's administration is eroding not because of political rhetoric, but because of decaying infrastructure, poor communication, and worsening quality of life.
The protest should not be dismissed as rowdy—it should be remembered as a moment when ordinary residents demanded to be seen, heard, and served.
If this municipality is serious about service delivery, then it must start with the trash at its own doorstep.
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