The ward 18 councillor in Edenvale, Clr Heather Hart, has asked why scrap metal dealers are allowed to make money at ratepayers’ expense.
“Look at any scrap meter dealer and all around you will see a total mess as sellers either strip their spoils in the proximity of the dealerships or dump what they cannot sell,” said Clr Hart.
She added that it costs the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) a fortune every year to clean up, often with minimal success.
“This is despite Chapter 7 of the EMM’s health bylaws, which includes scrap meter dealers as a possibly ‘offensive’ trade which requires that their premises be kept neat and tidy. There is also a stipulation that the vicinity in which the offensive dealer trades must not be affected negatively,” said Clr Hart.
“What it omits, however, is that the scrap meter dealers must be held accountable for the vicinity in which they operate, as well as making space in their dealerships for stripped and waste materials,” she added.
In an attempt to have the health bylaws amended, Clr Hart recently brought a motion before council to include the two stipulations.
“This should go a long way to ensuring that the cost of cleaning is for their account and not ours, and that if they do not comply, they can face severe penalties even to the extent of losing their trading licences. While I know this will not go down well with scrap metal dealers, something has to be done,” said Clr Hart.
Unfortunately, the EMM did not pass the motion as a resolution of council, but it did support the need to investigate what new regulations could be introduced to alleviate these problems.
The spokesperson for the EMM, Mr Themba Gadebe, added that the matter would indeed be investigated and the issue of amending the bylaws would be considered.
