AfriForum weighs in on the disturbing state of Newcastle’s landfill site
The Newcastle landfill site scored just 30 per cent, with AfriForum noting that the site has long reached its capacity but, despite this, continues to operate.
The state of Newcastle’s landfill site is again under scrutiny after it failed to comply with the National Waste Management Act, following an annual audit conducted by AfriForum.
The Newcastle landfill site scored just 30 per cent, with AfriForum noting that the site has long reached its capacity but, despite this, continues to operate.
The audit comes prior to a fire on August 15 that broke out at the site, causing the temporary closure of the P483 (Madadeni road) as a result of the thick black smoke, which severely restricted road visibility.
The civil rights organisation, AfriForum, has this audited 161 landfills nationwide as part of their national project to determine the condition of landfills in South Africa.
Only one of those 10 landfill sites, audited in KwaZulu-Natal, met the national standards.
Eugene van Aswegen, AfriForum’s provincial coordinator for KwaZulu-Natal, said the most common problem that the audit revealed was that (municipal officials) who are responsible for service delivery do not see the maintenance of landfill sites as a necessity.
He continued: “This is a major concern as the municipal officials are obliged to ensure that landfills are a safe environment in terms of our constitution, and they are not being held accountable. Most landfills in KwaZulu-Natal are in a terrible state. This can mainly be attributed to landfills being increasingly badly managed due to a restricted budget.”
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