She added, “Our company is on the corner of Old Pretoria Road and James Crescent. We have been exposed to this filth for over six months now, unfortunately we cannot get a reference number. It takes a while to get through to City of Johannesburg customer care lines.
“To make it worse, there are vagrants who spend the day cooking and sitting in the midst of that rubbish. We once had the same problem right next to our office, but the place was cleared out. Something needs to be done about cleaning up Midrand. People cannot complain about the same service delivery issues for years. Living and working near a rubbish dump is surely hazardous to our health.”
Khaya Ndhlovu, one of the men who regularly look for recycling material at the dumpsite said, “This space belongs to no one, so I also come and look for anything of value among the rubbish. No one can chase me away. We have nothing else to do, no one will give us jobs.”
Desiree Ntshingila, spokesperson for Pikitup, has been notified of the issue. She said, “Pikitup was not aware of the rubbish dump on corner Old Pretoria Road and James Crescent, before Midrand Reporter mentioned it. Residents need to log a call to report illegal dumping using our call centre number. Emails and calls to our reception area will not register or log the issue. Once the call has been logged, the depot will assign a truck to come and clean up the dump.We do our best to come and clear away the rubbish if a correct address is provided through our operations department or depot in the regions.”
