The Democratic Alliance has confirmed that only five of the 16 refuse trucks at the Sol Plaatje Municipality are currently operational.
This was revealed during a recent fleet oversight inspection in Kimberley, where multiple trucks were found standing idle and broken, including one with grass growing through it and another being used as a dumping bin. This reflects not just poor maintenance, but systemic neglect.
As a result, large parts of Kimberley have gone more than a month without refuse collection, leaving residents surrounded by rotting waste. Communities such as Ritchie have been especially hard hit.
The Cleansing Division is unable to cope. Workers are left waiting for trucks that do not arrive and are often forced to work late into the night to try to keep up, increasing overtime costs. Staff morale is reportedly at a low point, with requests for meetings with senior management going unanswered for over a year.
The crisis is compounded by questionable supply chain decisions. Parts are being sourced from other provinces while capable local providers are overlooked, and trucks are unnecessarily being sent out of town for repairs. Some service providers have reportedly stopped assisting due to outstanding municipal debt. Of the five operational trucks, one requires only minor welding, yet basic materials are allegedly unaffordable.
Council has approved plans to procure additional fleet and replace the costly double-beat system with a more efficient shift system, but implementation has stalled due to too few working trucks, workshop delays, staff shortages, extended sick leave and funding constraints.
Kimberley is dirty, workers are frustrated, and residents are fed up, while municipal leadership remains focused on internal legal disputes instead of basic service delivery.
The DA will continue to expose these failures and push for urgent intervention. Real change, however, will require voters to elect a DA-led local government in the 2026 Local Government Elections.