Dumped PPE still surfacing in Hennops River

Volunteers are still cleaning out dumped personal protective equipment (PPE) from the Hennops River after thousands of medical gloves were found in it in August.

Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng health spokesperson Jack Bloom said it was disappointing that nothing had come of the investigation into the dumped PPE. In August, 11 black refuse bags filled with well over a thousand unopened boxes of single-use hospital medical gloves were discovered dumped in the river.

“The department of health must not think we have forgotten about it,” Bloom said. At the time, the DA said it seemed someone was trying to get rid of “evidence” in a hurry.

“Any legitimate supplier would not destroy several thousands of rands worth of stock in such a bizarre manner,” it said.

The information on the boxes and the gloves showed the items came from three different companies. “The department promised to investigate the corruption related to the viciously dumped equipment,” Bloom added.

Tarryn Johnston, cofounder of the Hennops Revival organisation, said they were still cleaning out dumped PPE from the river.

She said tossing such a large quantity of these items into the river had a huge environmental impact.

“We removed some more in the lake again the other day, so there is still PPE washing up in some places which was presumably stuck in branches and root systems.” Johnston said pressure was needed.

“Otherwise they will just forget about it, which is absolute nonsense. It was a serious incident and made big headlines everywhere, especially during a time when it was critical.”

This month, Johnston and her team cleaned out riverbank grids which were blocked by a massive amount of polystyrene dumped in the river below SuperSport Park in October. Neither the department of health nor the police could say what stage the investigation was at.

– marizkac@citizen.co.za

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