East residents decry nauseating pollution

Ratepayers in some of Pretoria east’s affluent suburbs are fed up and demand action from the metro as they have to bear air pollution caused by the burning of plastic waste and other hazardous pollutants.

Moreleta Park, Woodhill, Woodlands and Mooikloof ratepayers have been subjected to massive noise and air pollution by Plastic View and Cemetery View informal settlement dwellers.

Section 24 of the Constitution states that everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health, however, in this regard residents have tolerated the air pollution for years.

According to Deirdré van Helsdingen, founding director of Pretoria east Community Caring Forum (CCF), the dwellers contaminate the local stream and burn plastic waste and other hazardous pollutants causing massive air pollution.

“The property tax-paying residents cannot open their windows anymore,” she said.

Van Helsdingen said the smoke pollution is unbearable.

“The squatters set rubbish alight, which includes plastics, waste that is very toxic. Do yourself a favour and drive there at 19:00 you will see the cloud of smoke and you will hear the noise from the camps,” said Van Helsdingen.

She said the dwellers from the two settlements also caused massive illegal dumping.

“The dwellers have created their own waste sorting area in the camps and plastic waste and toxins piling up in makeshift dumping sites are contaminating nearby streams,” she said.

“It is bad, the smoke at night is harmful to our well-being.
The dwellers, who are sometimes referred to as plastic collectors or waste pickers are a massive problem. They fiddle through our bins, which are supposed to be collected by Tshwane and they take the waste back into the veld and that’s another form of illegal dumping. We challenge the water department to come take samples of the water at the stream to see the amount of toxins dumped in the water,” Van Helsdingen said.

“We understand that people need to eat in the evening and that some people need fire to prepare food however what is happening at the camp is just burning of harmful plastic.

It is not braai vleis that is burning, it is the smell of burning rubbish at an area not properly designated for that or zoned for rubbish sorting.”

According to Van Helsdingen, they have tried to negotiate with street leaders of Plastic View for a waste removal plan.

“We suggested that each household contribute at least R10 a month for private waste removal, however, they did not agree to this.”

She said on Fridays, during waste refuse removal day, it is chaos to drive on De Villebois Mareuil Drive as there are just too many waste pickers pushing trolleys.

Van Helsdingen said Region 6 head of waste during a meeting said they cannot clear up the rubbish simply because there’s a garden and building rubble on top of the waste in Plastic View.

“We demand that the metro police enforce by-laws and uphold the existing court order to remove all undocumented foreigners.”

Van Helsdingen said the residents are tired of hearing the city say they will relocate the residents to Pretorius Park’s new social housing development as nothing is materialising.

“This is the same song from the city every year for the past six years. We demand action now, we are ratepaying citizens and have to live under harmful unhealthy conditions because the city is failing to perform their duties.”

She said she has been writing to the metro to no avail.

“Every year in the IDPs and public participation, the city speaks of relocating the dwellers of the informal settlements but nothing is being done. I have asked for a round table [meeting] with the city. They avoid my emails, I sent MMC of Finance Jacqui Uys a WhatsApp on April 29. She said she would get back to me in two weeks but to date, nothing,” Van Helsdingen said.

“It is now 260 days since we appeared in front of the petition committee and ordered a round table meeting with the city manager, mayor and group heads but there’s been no reaction.

The city should take decisive action regarding this matter regarding these camps, the city should prioritise property tax-paying residents.”

She said she pleaded with the mayor to only answer one email she sent.

Van Helsdingen pleaded with more residents to join the CCF as it also runs a lot of clean-up campaigns in the area.

Rekord reached out to the metro to table the issues of the ratepayers.

Metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the matter of pollution and noise will be escalated to the Tshwane Metro Police Department for by-law enforcement.

“The city is currently supplying rudimentary waste services, which include a supply of refuse bags to each household for the containment of waste generated from these informal settlements. The plastic bags are collected weekly from a communal area, where residents are advised to place their refuse bags on the morning of each collection day.”

He said in addition the city has placed bulk containers next to the areas where refuse bags are collected so that residents can place any excess waste inside the bulk containers.

“The bulk containers are serviced as and when they are full.”

He said monitoring and by-law enforcement is done quarterly through multi-disciplinary operational programmes that are conducted by the City’s Environment and Agriculture, Municipal Health Services, metro police and Human Settlement Departments.

Mashigo said the metro is in the process of approving a five-year Integrated Waste Management Plan, which is a blueprint for waste management interventions for Tshwane.

“Contained in this plan, in addition to other waste intervention strategies, the municipality intends to establish multipurpose waste facilities around its jurisdiction to cater for recycling and alternative waste disposal.”

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