Press Clippings 2017
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PRESS CLIPPINGS 2017 ADVERTS THE HERALD Connect with us on Visit us on Facebook: Monday Twitter – @HeraldPE w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m / T h e H e r a l d E C N E WS May 22, 2017 5 Municipality rejects claims It ’s dirty work – but THE Nelson Mandela Bay Mu- were also supplied with nicipality rejected claims by masks. refuse workers that they were “[This is] as and when re- forced to work under ap- q u i re d , ” he said. palling conditions. On the torn couches and Municipal spokesman sewerage leaks in the depots, Mthubanzi Mniki said all five Mniki said: “In our waste man- someone has to do it waste management depots agement depots, we are not used by refuse workers had aware of any couches in our used their repairs and main- change rooms.” tenance funding to maintain Mniki said six new trucks Refuse collectors toil under difficult conditions to keep city clean change rooms, purchase new would be made available be- lockers and for other refur- fore the end of July. Johnnie Isaac bishments. “Every financial year new [email protected] “The change rooms are trucks are being purchased, clean, subdivided with show- depending on how much bud- ers and toilets inside.” get is allocated.” – Johnnie T IS daybreak at 5.40am on a Mniki said refuse workers Isaac MTHUBANZI MNIKI Wednesday. There are about 20 refuse workers at the can- teen of the waste manage- ment depot in Port Eliza- beth’s Harrower Road. IThis is their office – a small, stuffy 28 room with a long wooden table in the centre and a row of lockers against JUNE the wall. This is where these men change into and out of their overalls 2017 before and after work. SPEAKERS: Around the corner are showers and EARLY START: Refuse workers wait dirty, leaking toilets – some behind at the depot to begin their shift NOSIPHO doors with no handles. DAMASANE “We are expected to eat in this en- CHAIRPERSON BRAND vironment. We can’t. The food doesn’t OF RICHARDS BAY PRETORIUS go down,” Thobile Boyana says. JOIN THE LEADERSHIP CONVERSATION COAL TERMINAL FORMER CEO OF MCCARTHY “We don’t have time to eat because 2017 SIPHO RETAIL LTD the work we are doing is dirty, the PITYANA trucks are filthy and we don’t have CHAIRMAN SKHUMBUZO places where we can stop to wash our NELSON MANDELA OF IZINGWE MACOZOMA hands and eat.” BAY LEADERSHIP HOLDINGS CEO OF SANRAL Down the narrow passage – damp LINCOLN JEFF from a leaking sewerage pipe – is a SUMMIT MALI GOVENDER smaller waiting room, with two shab- STANDARD BANKÁS EXECUTIVE CHAIR by couches. GROUP HEAD OF OF BOPHELA CARD AND EMERGING INVESTMENTS, This is where some workers kill PAYMENTS ACROSS MD FAMHEALTH time before hitting the road to begin REGISTRATION FEES: AFRICA IN PBB MEDIPARK the gruelling task of garbage collec-  tion in Nelson Mandela Bay. NMMU staff and Alumni R1 800 (incl. VAT) At the start of the shift at 6am, four DINGY FACILITIES: The men’s  Normal delegates R2 000 (incl. VAT) ablutions at the offices men in blue overalls, safety shoes and Book for 10 and get 1 seat free. gloves jump onto the filthy refuse  truck and set off towards Gelvandale. Registration fee includes 12-month The mood is jovial, although the subscription to The Herald e-edition. conversation is about the conditions HEAVY LOADS: An NMBM rubbish collector on his rounds in the city’s  Registered delegates will be allocated suburbs Pictures: JUDY DE VEGA the refuse workers have to endure. underground parking on the day. The discussion then shifts to the one-hour bonus issue – a bonus they filled mostly with adult nappies, are After a few streets, they switch had received since 2013 for working ready for collection. roles. The cycle continues for hours. Date: 28 June 2017 through their breaks but which was “We don’t have masks; they are not We join a third group of refuse col- Time: 7:30 for 8:00am till 16:30 stopped by the council in September. given to us. Sometimes these black lectors, this time in Walmer. Here, the Venue: Boardwalk International Convention The bonus was paid out again from bags break and we have to pick up the rubbish is piled in black bags. Centre, Beach Road, Summerstrand November, according to the workers, faeces with our hands and brush it off But this does not necessarily make but abruptly stopped in February. in the grass,” another one of the four it any easier. Some bags are so heavy An initiative of: It is unfair, these workers complain, employees, Charl Solomons, says. they break, while others have been because they simply do not have The next stop is the Santa TB Hos- torn open by roaming dogs. time, nor do they have the appetite, to pital in Bethelsdorp. “You can see, we Samson Ndlela complains that peo- eat under these filthy conditions. are at a TB hospital and we don’t have ple stuff garden waste into the bags. CHANGE AREA: The canteen has a The truck driver, Nkosikhona Mazu- masks,” Mazula says. “It is not allowed, but our supervi- table, seating and lockers la, who has been working for the mu- They know the risks of their jobs, sors have issues with us if we leave opening doors and creating opportunities nicipality for 19 years, says he is dis- but they push ahead nonetheless. the lawn bags behind, so we take While two of the workers make their way back to the depot to clock appointed in mayor Athol Trollip, “The municipality thinks we are ly- them anyway,” he says, shrugging. www.nmbleadershipsummit.co.za who visited his house in Kwazakhele ing when we say we collect rubbish It is midday and the workers have out at 2pm, the other two jump onto Register online at another truck to help finish the work while campaigning. from hospitals. Some people have been at it for hours without passing a Contact: Charmaine Smith died of TB with this job,” Mazula says. single public toilet. on another route, with the hope of “I told him about our problems as raking in some overtime. [email protected] | Tel: 041 365 7591 | Cel: 071 200 6852 refuse workers, about this one-hour As the workers make their way to “We use trees and bushes to urinate It has been a long day – for some it lunch bonus issue and he said we the Arlington waste site to dump the because there are no municipal facil- began as early as 4am – and all the Proudly sponsored by: must vote for him and he will fix it.” day’s first load, we join another group ities for us in these areas,” he says. workers want is to scrub the dirt of The 47-year-old Mazula feels Trollip of refuse collectors in West End. At about 1.30pm, the truck makes the day off and finally eat something. has gone back on his word. This truck, too, has four workers – its way to the Arlington tip where ● The refuse workers quoted did The first stop is the Gelvan Park two assembling the bins, the others dozens of people are waiting to pick not use their real names as they fear frail care centre, where rubbish bins, loading the rubbish onto the truck. through the rubbish. reprisal from the municipality. JHB 59560/E It’s n’ Limited time offer, finger licki valid from 9-22 May 2017. E&OE good EP Herald, 22-May-2017 Cyan Page 5 EP Herald, 22-May-2017 Magenta Page 5 EP Herald, 22-May-2017 Yellow Page 5 EP Herald, 22-May-2017 Black Page 5 Friday 6 June 2, 2017 N E WS GOT A STORY? PHONE OUR NEWS DESK: (041) 504 7324 Metros child-trafficking hotspots Estelle Ellis [email protected] Nine investigations in progress in Eastern Cape, but state funding to NGOs like Childline slashed ORT Elizabeth and East Child Protection Week is being edges the dire situation, those Department of Social Development She said that in the last financial social development portfolio com- and show some teeth in fighting for London have been identi- marked this week. working for non-governmental or- since they first raised their con- y e a r, Childline Eastern Cape man- mittee in Bhisho, Christian Martin, the poor.” Solani said that over the past two ganisations say its decision to slash cerns a few weeks ago. aged 10 225 calls on its crisis line. asking why the cut in funding to According to a national preva- fied as the child-traf fick- years the department had recorded budgets has exacerbated the situ- The department’s delays in final- “We provide therapy to children non-profit organisations through- lence study on child abuse, pub- ing hotspots in the prov- more than 600 cases of child abuse ation. ising subsidies for the new financial and their families and psychologi- out the province was not brought to lished last year, one in three chil- P ince, with nine investiga- in the province. Childline Eastern Cape director year have put several NGOs, inclu- cal first aid at the Thuthuzela care the attention of the committee. dren is the victim of sexual violence tions currently on the go. “The reality of child trafficking in Aisha Abrahams said the organisa- ding those that deal with substance centres [where rape survivors are “This action by the department and physical abuse before reaching This, coupled with a disturbing the province has led to a specialist tion, which offers counselling to abuse, in dire straits.