PHOTOS: Illegal dumping plagues New Germany
The area affected by the illegal dumping is a 300m stretch along High Street.
NEW Germany residents and the ward councillor are up in arms over illegal dumping taking place along High Street, which is also a conservation area.
The DA PR councillor for Ward 21, Riona Gokool said the sight of the illegal dump had her feeling angry and frustrated.
“Government cannot teach residents about pride, care, responsibility and accountability. These qualities are taught at home or even self-taught. We cannot blame the government for our ‘don’t care’ attitude. Regardless of where you live, you should take care of your surroundings and have civic pride. It is our responsibility to look after our space by not dumping and reporting illegal dumpers,” said Gokool.
According to the eThekwini Municipality, illegal dumping is considered a serious offence and, if caught, the perpetrator will be fined and held responsible for the removal of the refuse.
If the perpetrator cannot remove the waste, it will be removed by council and the perpetrator will incur all removal costs.
Gokool said the first action residents needed to take was to report illegal dumping but noted the turnaround time regarding illegal dumping was slow.
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“Another suggestion is to get the community together with DSW to do a clean-up. The presence would then create awareness around this hot-spot and illegal dumpers would be aware that they are being watched by residents,” she said.
Gokool said she would request for DSW to put up a ‘No Dumping’ sign.
“However, obviously this does not prevent the illegal dumping. My long term solution would be to get the municipality to either put up a skip, that is emptied once a week or erect a fence, which is more costly.”
During an on-site visit with the councillor she said that because the dump site is not easily visible, it made it easier for perpetrators to commit the crime without being caught.
“There is a lot of refuse there, which means the mentality is clearly ‘everyone else is doing it so why can’t I?’. It is not being reported so it is not being cleared. The problems in DSW are deep and rife. The department is just not performing. This unfortunately means that there is no turn-around strategy, which means that there are no alternate solutions to deal with these types of ongoing issues plaguing our communities,” she said.
New Germany resident, Cebo Mthembu, described the sight as unseemly and unhygienic.
“Especially in these times! Our area shouldn’t look like this. No one cares to clean it up and it has just gotten worse over the years. People dump all manner of things here, sometimes people even dump their dead pets. This whole strip along High Street is a mess. You would like to think that people living in a place like this would be more inclined to not dump,” he said.
Another resident, Leon Pretorius said he stopped and confronted three vehicles on separate occasions while they were dumping along High Street.
“Each time the person commented that the dump was too far or closed,” he said.
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Gokool said, “Not all councillors live in the wards they service. I pick up issues when I do my drive-arounds and inspections and by residents reporting issues to me. I urge residents to be pro-active, report illegal dumping the minute you see it taking place by phoning Metro Police and DSW. If you are afraid to approach the perpetrator, take down the registration of the vehicle and then report it. Then report it to the councillor of the area, put it on the municipality’s Facebook page and make a noise. This goes for any local government issue and any service delivery issue in the ward. Be active, do not think that someone else will do it.”
eThekwini Municipality’s spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said an area officer was tasked to investigate the matter immediately and that the municipality would explore all avenues to mitigate illegal dumps in the future.
“A monitoring plan with all stakeholders will be established going forward on similar matters to ensure that law enforcement is exercised and visible. Furthermore, the Education Department has also been engaged in order to implement strategies that will create awareness on the correct waste management practices,” he said.
Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting
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