Ekurhuleni landfills are inaccessible, says AfriForum
The civil rights organisation believes intervention is urgently required.
The Brakpan branch of AfriForum sent a PAIA (Promotion of Access to Information Act) application to the City of Ekurhuleni on June 26 to obtain information regarding fines issued as well as financial statements and spending in relation to waste sites in Ekurhuleni.
Depending on what this information yields, AfriForum will consult its legal team to discuss the next steps. AfriForum annually audits landfills in towns and cities where this organisation’s branches are located.
The data collected is then detailed in a report. However, according to AfriForum, the landfills the branches in Ekurhuleni wanted to visit were closed or inaccessible this year due to riots and illegal miners.
In other cases, the municipality refused AfriForum’s requests to gain access to the landfills, even in cooperation with the municipality’s auditors.
On June 12, AfriForum sent a letter to Dr Imogen Mashazi, the municipal manager, after carcasses of animals that had been removed by Ekurhuleni’s waste disposal services at the Springs SPCA were illegally dumped in a field.
In the letter, AfriForum demanded that an investigation be launched and that the municipality provide feedback to this civil rights organisation.
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No feedback has been received. AfriForum stated the landfills in Springs are also regularly closed to the public due to various problems at these landfills.
According to AfriForum, in other parts of Ekurhuleni, the Simmer and Jack landfill in Germiston is controlled by illegal miners.
The organisation reported there is a constant fight for control of land between two factions that are currently mining illegally on the grounds of the landfill.
On June 23, eight bodies of suspected illegal miners were found in Primrose.
Meanwhile, the Weltevreden Landfill Site in Brakpan is also teeming with illegal miners in the vicinity, who caused Main Reef Road, which is one of the main routes to Brakpan, to collapse.
AfriForum stated this landfill also has challenges with the Plastic City informal settlement and makes it impossible for operators of this landfill to comply with their licence conditions. Illegal dumping of waste regularly takes place outside this landfill’s grounds.
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AfriForum claimed Ekurhuleni’s own waste disposal services are also guilty thereof.
The AfriForum Brakpan branch also met with the municipality to share their concerns and offered to intervene but has so far received no support from the municipality.
“It is unacceptable that we as taxpayers have to fight for our basic human rights and services. The authorities are there precisely to uphold the Constitution by protecting our rights and providing basic services, for which we pay,” said Jurie Ferreira, AfriForum district coordinator for the East Rand.
“We insist that the municipality outline a workable and sustainable plan and make it available to us on how they are going to deal with will deal with this lack of effective garbage disposal services.
“The slow intervention and mismanagement of the municipality leads to greater problems, including illegal activities on these waste sites.
“If the municipality does not intervene urgently, it will have far-reaching consequences on service delivery, safety and residents’ health.”
Although the AfriForum branches are aware that there are not quick solutions to every challenge at the landfills, AfriForum will continue to apply pressure on the municipality.
Further legal steps will also be considered to hold the municipality responsible if the municipality does not fulfil its legal obligations.
