Beach litter unattended despite complaint
In the vicinity of the Nyathi Road dump site, we found tons of rubbish.
A week after it was brought to a municipal manager’s attention, Dakota beach is still in a disgusting state with garbage and even a dog carcass littering the shore.
Toti Conservancy’s Angus Pyke brought it to the municipality’s attention on Thursday, 14 January. “I was promised it would be cleaned up the following day,” he said. “On Tuesday I saw nothing had been done.”
Angus called for a meeting with the beach manager at the site on Wednesday, 20 January, but he failed to pitch.
It was suspected last week’s heavy rains brought the litter down from the Isipingo River, which flows into the Umbogintwini River via a man-made duct. Previously litter discarded in the river has been found to emanate from the Isipingo transit camp and lot 1029 in Isipingo.
Angus and the chairman of Toti Conservancy, Laura Taylor took a drive to lot 1029 and the transit camp on Wednesday, but found the areas relatively litter-free.
“However, in the vicinity of the Nyathi Road dump site, we found tons of rubbish,” said Angus. “This could well be the source of this latest incident.”
Instead of using the dump site, transgressors have simply dumped their rubbish on the side of the road, with it free to blow into the adjacent Twini River to end up on Dakota beach.
The Sun sent a query to eThekweni Municipality to establish when a clean-up of Dakota beach would be initiated, but is still awaiting a response. In an email to Angus on Wednesday morning, the manager apologised and informed him that arrangements had been made to clear the litter, but not carried out by municipal workers. It is expected the beach will be cleaned on Wednesday.
