Illegal dumping rife in Diepsloot

The illegal dumping of refuse, particularly of construction debris, has always been a problem in greater Johannesburg but has become much worse, specifically in Diepsloot.

Paul Griffiths, who has worked in Diepsloot for three years, said he has noticed an increase in dumping in the area around his offices near the Northern Works Treatment Plant situated off the R114.

“It’s gotten so much worse in the last six months to a year,” Griffiths said.

“Daily I see trucks come here and they drive into the veld and dump the rubbish from construction sites, right on the ground.”

When Griffiths noticed the increase, he attempted to contact Pikitup through a special email that the company set up for residents to report the problem. He soon realised that the email address advertised did not work as his emails bounced back to him, unread.

“What I think happens is that people are paid by construction companies to take away debris. But instead of doing it legally, they just come here and dump it illegally, because it’s easy,” he speculated.

When a team from Fourways Review went to the area to investigate, they found an unmarked truck dumping illegally a few hundred metres from the entrance to the Northern Works Treatment Plant.

The truck driver, who eventually produced a driver’s license which said his name was Felix Ndlovu, attempted to leave the scene by driving through the veld, but could not find a usable exit. When he was asked why he was dumping in the area, Ndlovu said he had given the security guard on duty at the Northern Works Treatment Plant R20 so he could offload his rubbish there. The security guard from 2RM Security, who did not give his name, refuted this.

When the Fourways Review contacted 2RM Security for comment, they said that they were unaware of the incident, and declined to give comment until they had completed an investigation.

Ndlovu’s truck had no logo on the side of the vehicle, and there was no visible licence disk on his windshield that would indicate that he was legally allowed to act as a refuse removal service.

Edna Mamonyane, spokesperson for Metro police, explained that neither Metro police, nor Pikitup, could solve the issue of illegal dumping alone, and called on residents who witnessed it to contact Metro police.

“There is a serious problem with illegal dumping in the city,” Mamonyane explained.

“So we’d like residents to report any instances of it that they see to the Metro police call centre. If residents can take out their cellphones and subtly take a few photographs, making sure to get the vehicle’s registration number and the name of the company, we will take that information and put it into our system [for future use].”

She did caution that residents should not try approaching the dumpers themselves, as this could lead to a dangerous situation.

Details: Metro police 011 375 5918.