As you enter Moore Avenue from Industry Road, Benoni South, it’s difficult to notice any traces of rubbish lying around.
However, further down on the corner of Moore and Balfour avenues, you would think you are in a different area.
Going further down towards The Fountains apartments, you are met by an unbearable stench of decomposed garbage and charred remains of litter on the pavement of Moore Avenue.
Resident Zain Shah told the City Times the garbage has been piling up for the past four years.
“The dumping started when the council allowed the two illegally run cash for scrap businesses to operate on the top and bottom of Moore Avenue about four years ago.”
Shah has been complaining to the municipality about this illegal dumping since 2018. He has sent numerous emails, which the City Times have seen, to the municipality.
“I have been in contact with every branch of council and the city manager daily for the last four years. I have had every department of council on site and was promised on more than one occasion that everything will be sorted once the cash for scraps were shut down.”
ALSO READ: Dumping, recycling at designated Ekurhuleni landfill sites helps the planet
In his email dated January 4, 2022, sent to the municipality, Shah wrote: “I have begged you people for years to sort out our street. What was a problem has now become a health risk with an infestation of rats. Come and see the neglect we receive from you, yet other areas are kept tidy.”
This health risk Shah pointed out is evident by the trails the rats have left on the piles of rubbish on the corner of Moore and Balfour avenues, where the cash for scrap business was situated.
The rubbish, along with a stagnant pool of water with algae and the bush that has grown on Balfour Avenue, have rendered the street inaccessible.
Shah explained that Balfour Avenue used to be a clean, tarred road; however, when the municipality erected a water tank on the open veld adjacent to the street, they left rubble on the road.
“The rubble the builders left here may have given people the impression that this is a dumping site. When the cash for scrap business opened its doors, the dumping escalated to what you see now.”
Shah told the paper the municipality sent a team on January 12 to clean up the filth. He said rather than removing the rubbish, the municipality workers instead pushed the dirt deeper into the bush next the water tank.
He said the clean-up projects the municipality often undertakes don’t work and that a lasting solution was needed.
“The people here wait for sunset to do their dumping. I always try to tidy up here, but as soon as I wake up in the morning, I find more heaps of rubbish.
“We need a long-term solution. We need paving on either side of the road, since it has such heavy pedestrian traffic. The grass needs to be cut and the right side of the road needs to be fenced to avoid dumping.
“Council needs to do something about that stagnant water as well.”
Request for comment was sent to the municipality regarding this issue. However, at the time of going to print, no response had been received.
The City of Ekurhuleni responded to queries regarding the illegal dumping in Moore Avenue, Benoni South:
The municipality has confirmed that it has sent a team to start with the removal of rubbish that had been piling in the area up for the past four years.
This comes after a resident of Moore Avenue Zain Shah complained about illegal dumping and the existence of illegal cash for scrap businesses since 2019.
City of Ekurhuleni spokesperson Zweli Dlamini told the City Times the municipality has sent a team to remove the rubbish.
“We are assisting with the clearing and removal of scattered litter and dumping. We have sent a team to clear the dumping from January 17,” said Dlamini.
On the issue of the illegal cash for scrap businesses in the area, which residents said were exacerbating the dumping, Dlamini explained that the complaint will be sent to the EMPD for by-law enforcement.
Shah said he had been sending the municipality emails (which the City Times have seen) requesting assistance for the past four years.
“I have been in contact with every branch of the council as well as the city manager on a daily basis for the last four years. I have had every department on sight and was promised on numerous occasions that everything will be sorted once the cash for scraps was shut down.
“The dumping started ever since the council allowed the two illegally run a cash for scrap businesses to operate on the top and bottom of Moore Avenue about four years ago.”
Meanwhile, Shah has confirmed to the City Times that the municipality has indeed sent a team to remove the dirt and they started working on January 17.
“The municipality came and is removing all the dirt and even cut the grass on the veld and pavements.”
ALSO READ: Illegal dumping in Actonville a health hazard
