eThekwini DSW head Raymond Rampersad quits his post, to leave at the end of the month
|Published
FIle Picture: DSW workers at the Springfield office.Picture: Doctor Ngcobo African News Agency (ANA)
Durban - The of the embattled eThekwini Municipality’s Durban Solid Waste (DSW) Unit, Raymond Rampersad, has quit his post.
Rampersad confirmed to The Mercury during a brief telephone interview yesterday that he was leaving at the end of this month, but declined to reveal the details around his sudden departure.
The decision took political parties in the council by surprise, with one describing it as suspicious, while another wished him well on his retirement.
Rampersad is possibly among the longest-serving employees of the city. He has been with the municipality for 38 years and been in public service for 41 years. There were allegations that his job was being interfered with and had become too political for him and that this had prompted his departure.
Asked about this, Rampersad said he wasn’t in a position to elaborate on the reasons for his departure.
His department is at the coal-face of service delivery and has borne the brunt of the criticism over the dreadful state of hygiene in the city.
The unit has faced accusations of failing to do the basics, sweeping the streets and collecting refuse, which has left the city in an appalling state. It has also come under heavy criticism over allegations of its staff claiming excessive overtime.
But others argued the criticism was unfair, pointing out that the unit had many vacancies that had not been filled, its equipment was old and no new equipment was being bought to accommodate the growing needs of the city due to its increasing population.
Rampersad said he felt it was time to go. “I have been in public service for close to 40 years. I am passionate about what I do and it wasn’t about money for me.”
IFP councillor Mdu Nkosi said the party wished Rampersad well on his retirement and the time he would be spending with his family.
“At the moment we cannot speak on the reasons for his departure as we have not been briefed about them.
“When officials are hired, it is always hoped that they will stay with the municipality until they reach retirement. But at times there are occasions when they choose to leave early because of things that are disruptive to them and their family life.
“I know that he has been under pressure because of the city being dirty. I asked him about why his unit was failing to clean the city and he told me that the budget he had to operate with now had shrunk compared to the previous years,” he said.
DA councillor Mzamo Billy said: “Our view has always been that the existing challenges in the DSW department, which include poor waste management, lack of adequate resources and the payment of millions of rand of taxpayers’ money on illegal overtime costs, are because of poor management.
“Mr Raymond (Rampersad) must take some responsibility for the collapse of the DSW department. It is under his leadership that inefficiencies, including irregular collection of refuse in our city, continued to worsen.
“While the DA has put immense pressure on the poor work of DSW, the resignation of Mr Rampersad does appear to be sudden and suspicious. We have reliably learnt that there had been serious political interference in the operations of DSW,” Billy said.
He added that the party was aware of allegations that Rampersad had been under political pressure from individuals in and outside the municipality.
He added that he hoped that municipal manager Musa Mbhele would take the opportunity to turn around the DSW unit.
“All managers, supervisors, and the relevant deputy city manager must go through a competency and skills audit to ascertain if they have what it takes to fix DSW.”