CHAPTER 5 RESULTS
5.11 Co –Presencing: Learning from the Future
127 amongst these were the water sector which was being polluted by uncollected domestic waste, poor operational management at the landfill site and pollution from untreated sewer due to the lack of proper sanitation services to many residents within the MM. Both representatives were of the opinion that many decision makers within the MM did not fully understand the interrelatedness of all environmental, social and economic systems.
One of the representatives of the regulatory authorities indicated that from personal
experiences working with some officials and politicians responsible for waste management within the MM it was quite routine for unsystemic blaming game allegations to be pulled out of the hat sooner or later when a service delivery deficit about the MM was queried; “usually they resort to blaming other levels of government for their failures, for example, the slow pace of extending refuse collection services is blamed on national governments meagre equitable share grants and not their own wasteful expenditure patterns, the poor operations at the landfill site is due to the district municipality not taking responsibility for their
functions and not providing additional resources and the lack of recycling activity is due to provincial government not providing for a recycling facility within the MM”.
5.10.7 The Technical Sector
Most of the technical experts concurred that despite the numerous study tours to other cities and conferences attended by senior managers of the WMU and the LSU, these have not had the effect of enabling Managers to identify best practice solutions from other waste
management systems that could be used to fix the problems of the MM.
To most of the technical experts the senior managers from within the MM cannot see beyond their own personal benefits and in some cases people are in positions for which they do not have the required capability and technical expertise. Most technical experts felt that they were not being utilised effectively by the MM to solve the problems currently being faced as well as the problems that are being created for the future by the unsystemic „quick fix‟
solutions that are currently being implemented.
128 5.11.1 The NGO Sector
Representatives from Groundwork indicated that they would want to help bring into being a society that makes wise use of materials by working towards a total recovery of resources through mainstreaming cleaner production technologies. Groundwork would also want to create co-operatives of waste pickers who are playing a role in collecting recyclables at the landfill site and help to add value to discarded materials in order to create sustainable livelihoods for waste pickers. According to Groundwork the MM needs to become a more creative place that allows innovative projects to bloom for this future to emerge. One of the Groundwork representatives indicated that “this transformative process within the MM needs to occur urgently because climate change is a real threat to our future and the sooner
concrete actions to mitigate against climate change are taken in localities around the globe, the more likely are we to create alternate futures”.
According to Groundwork the system can attain its highest future possibility if stakeholders are able to let go of the old ways, “Groundwork would need to stop seeing all municipal officials and councillors as being ignorant and disinterested about environmental issues whilst the MM would need to stop being distrustful of NGO’s and accept that NGO’s have a right to criticise the state, the MM would also need to recognise that waste pickers at their landfill sites have a right to decent work opportunities in order to create sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their families”.
The DUCT would like to create a future where river care services are mainstreamed into the MM service delivery systems and the MM is capable of identifying polluters and making them pay for the costs of cleaning up pollution as well as the environmental costs associated with their actions. The DUCT believes that for this future to emerge the MM and other key stakeholders need to act immediately since “we are very nearing a tipping point where we could go down the tubes completely, we need to act now to bring this future into being.” The DUCT believes that the highest potential of the system can be reached if MM admits it has weaknesses and requires support whilst NGO‟s like DUCT need to be less conflict oriented towards the MM and rather focus on building bridges.
A Rocha South Africa would like to help create a future where the MM is socially,
economically and ecologically sustainable because natural food is produced, rivers are free
129 from pollution, all waste is collected, packaging is drastically reduced and all recyclables are collected separately. A Rocha believes that this future can emerge if leaders in the city are able to understand that all life depends on the environment and that “life is not a fairy tale that is somehow going to have a happy ending, the reality is that we are in dire straits and we need to start protecting the one thing we have abused for so long, our biological diversity which provides the basis for the ecosystems that enable all creation to thrive”. A Rocha believes that the highest future potential of the system can be reached if all the stakeholders work together and the MM is prepared to accept that working with the NGO sector involves dealing with organisations and leaders that are guided by values and principles of social and environmental justice.
The BESG would like to bring into being a future where service delivery at a municipal level is greatly improved and where ordinary people accept that they need to take greater
responsibility for issues like waste management. BESG believes that the MM needs to accept that we are already in a crisis and start acting in new ways in order to create a future where residents experience improved levels of service delivery. According to BESG the highest future potential of the system can be attained if the MM accepts the need for dialogue with civil society and accepts that criticism is necessary for robust engagements between stakeholders seeking to address complex challenges.
5.11.2 The MM Waste Management Services Sector
A senior manager within the WMU would like to help create a future where people are able to fish in our rivers and catch healthy fish because all domestic waste and sewerage has been collected enabling river health to be restored. According to this manager such a future can only become possible if municipal staff put aside their personal differences and interests and act collectively for the greater good. Another senior manager would like to bring into being a future where waste is treated in order to prevent decomposing organic waste from
contributing to climate change. According to this manager this alternate future can only be created if ordinary people are educated on environmental issues, volunteer to clean up the environment and monitor for pollution as if their lives depended on it.
130 5.11.3 The MM Political Sector
One of the political representatives interviewed would like to bring into being a future within the MM where there could be universal access to refuse collection services and the city is free of dumping and littering. This future is only possible if the MM creates public private
partnerships with capable service providers who are able to deliver cost effective services.
Another political representative would like to create a future where source separation services are provided to all households and businesses and the MM is able to enforce littering and dumping by-laws against citizens and street traders. According to the political representative these innovative projects can only occur if greedy and selfish officials and politicians are no longer employed within the MM. According to this political representative, the system can only reach its highest future potential; “if WMU staff are not involved in the process as they have proved to be incompetent in the past, rather we should bring in a private recycler with whom we can make plans with and at the end of the day you know that the plans would have been followed up and you can work together to improve the process, with WMU staff they will tell you all the time why things can’t be done without even trying”.
5.11.4 The MM Labour Sector
The trade union representatives concurred with each other that they would like to help transform the MM into a place where staff felt satisfied with their working conditions, were capable of undertaking the duties assigned to them and worked hard to deliver quality services. They believe that this future is only likely to be created if top management within the MM can stop taking care of only their own conditions of employment and start to address issues for other staff employed in the organisation.
5.11.5 The Business Sector
One of the representatives of the organised business sector would like to help transform the MM into an organisation run along the best practices of the business sector. In this
arrangement the shareholders of the MM are its citizens who are able to easily access credible data on how their business is performing and take actions against its managers should the business performance not be acceptable. In order for this future to be created the leadership of the MM would need to become transparent and accountable to its citizens.
131 One of the representatives of the organised waste management sector would like to help create a future where all waste is collected in a source separated form to enable recycling. In order for this future to be created “the MM needs to look at the bigger picture which is currently saying that recycling is the future and that all people want to recycle not just rich people and that we need to work together to make this future possible, however should this not be possible, companies like mine would make this future happen by ourselves, we are ready to do it”.
5.11.6 The Regulatory Authority Sector
Both regulatory authorities would like to bring into being a future where there is universal access to source separated collection services, treatment of organic waste and legally
compliant landfill sites within the MM. The regulatory authorities believe that this future can be brought into being if all stakeholders work together transparently without needing to be defensive about their service delivery challenges.
5.11.7 The Technical Expert Sector
One of the technical experts would like to help bring into being a cohesive, functional and high capacity WMU within the MM capable of delivering universal source separated refuse collection services, large scale composting of organic waste and a properly functioning landfill site. According to this technical expert, this future WMU can only be brought into being if the political leaders are made aware of the serious deficits in the current institution and the administrative heads are humble enough to seek help to remedy their institutional crisis.
Another technical expert would like to create a whole new industry based on the beneficiation of discarded materials which is capable of generating a significant number of jobs within the MM. According to the technical expert this project can only be brought into being if senior management within the MM „get over their large egos‟ and allow other people to work on waste management issues. This technical expert believed that in order for the highest future potential of the system to be attained stakeholders would need to work together and let go of the past, “I would need to leave behind the bitterness I have developed towards the senior leadership of the MM and the view that they are incapable of doing their jobs but they would also need to admit to having weaknesses and needing support to improve the city”.
132 One of the technical experts would like to bring into being a large scale project that can compost organic waste in order to set up effective community food gardens which can reduce poverty and malnutrition. According to the technical expert this project can be brought into being if MM officials undertake deep self audits of their roles, weaknesses and achievements and then commit to improving the situation by working with other stakeholders who can help to make a difference. This technical expert believes that for the system to achieve its highest future potential the key role players would need to work together; “I would need to let go of my views that bureaucracy is a camouflage for incompetence and that municipal officials only act in self interested ways, I guess that if I change and reach out to help others selflessly then I increase the possibility that more will do the same”.
One of the technical experts would like to bring into being a future where citizens have a deeper understanding of environmental issues and “are able to engage in waste exchange processes, clean up campaigns will be a thing of the past since we will not dump and litter and we will develop community based recycling projects at schools in order to ensure that the next generation is capable of protecting our planet in better ways than their parents did”.
According to this technical expert this type of future can only be created if organisations like MIDI are able to find space to undertake their work and find champions who are able to move projects from conceptual ideas through to implementation stages.