Sustaining a cleaner city

Keeping the environment clean may not be glamorous work, but it is a vital municipal duty that has a direct impact on all residents’ quality of life.

The City of Ekurhuleni offers a comprehensive waste management service across all 112 wards, including the informal settlements using different business model. More than 90% of the general domestic waste in the City of Ekurhuleni comes from within the municipal boundaries. Through a combination of various business models, waste collection services in the City of Ekurhuleni are rendered in-house and partly outsourced to private contractors to more than 718 655 service points in formalised areas and over 170 000 households in 119 informal settlements.

PROGRESS IN 2020/21 The City procured 27 additional new rearend loaders to build its internal capacity to improve on the quality of services rendered to its residents, also developing new public offloading facilities mainly in the townships where such facilities were in some cases totally nonexistent. In an attempt to ensure business continuity during labour unrest, vehicle breakdowns and other unforeseen circumstances, a specialised vehicle hire was acquired to build extra capacity as and when required. The City also introduced a ward-based education and awareness programme that focuses on ‘Keeping Ekurhuleni Clean’. This programme has recruited 1 244 participants deployed across the breadth and length of the City in all 112 wards.

The City further procured 70 tuktuks, which are three-wheeler vehicles aimed at supporting the mechanisation of informal waste pickers’ operations. The scope for Covid-19-induced business disruption in the City of Ekurhuleni has been vast considering that the municipal area is home to Gauteng’s manufacturing hub. The construction industry reported delays in the delivery of construction materials sourced from Asia, which impacts negatively on the City’s infrastructure investment programme.

The cleanliness levels of Ekurhuleni’s central business districts have improved drastically, scoring an average of level 2 and subsequently level 1.

This improved cleanliness could be attributed to the restricted movement of people and closing down of some of the businesses during the heightened levels of lockdown. The City, through its Environmental Resources and Waste Management Services Department, has also introduced the use of mechanical blowers for street sweeping, as opposed to the use of brooms, as part of improving the operational efficiency.

CHALLENGES Some of the challenges experienced within the operational environment during this time have included: • Increased volumes of waste as a result

of ceased recycling activities by informal waste pickers attributed to the declaration of the national

Covid-19 lockdown. • The turnaround time for repair of vehicles at repair workshop prolonged by shortage of spares as a result of national Covid-19 lockdown. • Low fleet availability, due to long turnaround times on repairs and maintenance have proved to be a huge headache for service delivery. • Access control to the landfill sites has been compromised due to an enforcement focus in other areas, which increases illegal entry into the sites. • The confinement of residents indoors resulted in a phenomenon of late delivery of bins to the kerbside, resulting in increased missed collection. • Burial space has proved to be a serious challenge for the City, with very few residents embracing cremation as a burial method of choice. • By-law enforcement was one of the biggest challenges during the lockdown period, which led to unintended consequences such illegal dumping, burning of tyres, etc. • All infrastructure projects were affected by the lockdown, which prevented a number of activities on many of the capital projects, thereby affecting performance on expenditure. Some of the projects were affected by material supply shortages, etc. • Overtime expenditure continues to be one of the key cost drivers that could be directly linked to some of the shortcomings, including a shortage of refuse collection trucks mostly on account of breakdowns and unplanned work stoppages by workers.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION The review of the City of Ekurhuleni’s Bioregional Plan (2020) has been concluded, which will ensure the planning for biodiversity patterns and processes will be undertaken with relevant and current biodiversity trends.

The City’s revised Bioregional Plan will replace the existing 2015 iteration. A Bioregional Plan is a tool that guides and informs land- and resource-use planning and decision-making by a full range of sectors whose policies, programmes and decisions impact on biodiversity, in order to preserve longterm functioning and health of national or regional priority areas known as critical biodiversity areas and ecological support areas. It is therefore the official reference for biodiversity priorities that need to be taken into account in all land-use planning and decisionmaking processes.

The City continues to play an integral part in the Environmental Management Inspectorate, which is a national network of environmental regulators tasked with monitoring compliance with environmental legislation and taking enforcement action against noncompliant persons and entities. In this regard, the City cultivates a strong relationship with provincial and national government and law enforcement agencies to conduct compliance inspections at industrial premises and to respond to environmental offences such as pollution incidents and unlawful developments.

The City uses a variety of enforcement tools such as administrative notices and criminal prosecutions to ensure that environmental offenders are made to account for their actions and that any environmental impact is rectified.

INSIGHT FROM THE EXECUTIVE MAYOR

As concerns waste management and various environmental aspects within Ekurhuleni, in her 2022 State of the City Address, Executive Mayor Alderman Tania Campbell spoke to a number of important points:

Climate and environment Weather conditions associated with climate change cause floods and pummel infrastructure. We therefore need to see that we reduce our contribution to the causes of extreme climate events. The Global Covenant of Mayors recently awarded the City of Ekurhuleni three badges for Climate & Energy for its achievements towards low-emission, climateresilient and sustainable energy future, yet much more remains to be done. We have also resolved to align our environment and waste goals for our term in office, aligning ourselves with the C40 Network protocols on climate change. Under MMC Du Plessis [Environment and Waste Management Services], our Environment and Waste Department has been hard at work to deal with rehabilitating infested waterbodies, targeting the protection of wetlands, reopening two inoperative landfill sites, and dealing with illegal dumping around the city.

Cleaning up the city Their maintenance activities have increased significantly in pace – particularly grass cutting at parks and cemeteries after emergency funds had to be allocated due to insufficient fund allocation by the prior administration. Clean-ups have commenced in the central business districts – once the jewels of our city – to entice businesses back. Over the next financial year, these activities will continue, in addition to the following… A programme to roll out 240 ℓ wheelie bins to backyard tenants, starting in Thembisa, has commenced to mitigate illegal dumping. All five of our landfill sites will be operable, with gas wells operating at four of them. We will also introduce waste separation-at-source at all municipal buildings and will ask the support of Council to pursue the establishment of an alternative waste treatment facility in the north of the city. By the end of the political term in 2026, we target to have established a fully completed plastics recycling facility in conjunction with Oxfam SA and other investors.

USING TECH TO DRIVE TRANSFORMATION

Ulwembu Business Services is a black-owned management consulting and information and communications technology (ICT) services company that facilitates the transformation of private and public enterprises to optimised, digitised organisations.

The company operates in South Africa, as well as across the continent, and focuses on key areas of ICT that leverage technology, people and processes to create sustainable value for its clients.

Ulwembu Business Services delivers, maintains and manages end-toend enterprise applications and technology solutions, and provides enterprise development and business consulting services that focus on improving performance, streamlining processes, and optimising clients’ business efficiencies.

TECHNOLOGY SERVICES The company’s Technology Services arm provides, maintains and manages end-to-end enterprise applications and technology solutions that enhance operations, reduce total cost of ownership and support effective decisionmaking and business management.

It supplies, supports and maintains complete ICT infrastructure solutions, which include networking and cabling, as well as advanced automation and control. The latter encompasses solutions such as systems integration, access control and CCTV, integrated building management systems, and monitoring and control centre capabilities to optimise building security operations and general property management.

MANAGED SERVICES The Managed Services arm provides an array of offerings to address clients’ IT needs, as well as the needs of their clients’ users. This includes IT service desk management, which entails extensive IT support services, and the specialised Ulwembu Network Operations Centre (NOC) and Security Operations Centre (SOC). The NOC deploys leading technologies to monitor, detect, prevent and resolve network issues, while the SOC cybersecurity specialists are focused on protecting customer data and intellectual property from external threats.

CONSULTING Ulwembu’s Business and ICT Consulting teams comprise experienced technical experts, field specialists and business analysts that are focused on improving performance, streamlining processes, delivering comprehensive ICT solutions and creating business efficiencies for clients. They form the company’s Centre of Enterprise Development, which services and supports businesses using innovative strategies and proven methodologies.

Areas of focus for this arm of the business include enterprise programme management, business process outsourcing, resourcing services and ICT consulting.

SMART INTEGRATION Unlocking digital integration lies at the heart of creating efficient, future-proof cities. With a partner such as Ulwembu Business Services’ Smart Integration business unit, creating smart precincts and cities – where all operational aspects can be securely monitored and controlled from a central point – is within reach.

Smart Integration’s Smart City offering comprises: • smart energy management (building management systems) • smart CCTV solutions • smart access control • integrated intelligent operating centre (IIOC). The company integrates all of the above, including functions like smart traffic, visitor management, security, energy management and measuring, environmental control as well as an IIOC to bring it all together.

In this respect, Smart Integration has delivered a feasibility study for an IIOC design encompassing police, emergency services, CCTV, City Power, Rand Water, the JRA, traffic control, and the integration of other entities in the City of Johannesburg (CoJ). The company also sits on MTC’s panel, which advises on and delivers smart city services to CoJ.

WHY CHOOSE ULWEMBU? So, what is it that makes Ulwembu Business Services unique? The company helps its clients optimise their business investment and achieve the desired outcome without compromising on service quality, by: • understanding their business challenges and delivering on promises – on time and within budget • delivering solutions that offer real benefits and business efficiencies • providing a consistent level of work • using open-source platforms where possible and delivering other cost savings • focusing on developing client relationships through open communication, hands-on involvement and ease of engagement • being actively involved in clients’ daily operations, buying into their vision and becoming part of the team that drives their success. Furthermore, every step of the way, Ulwembu Business Services embodies its company values of being people-driven, innovative, customer-focused, collaborative, and guided by integrity.