Refuse removal off DSW sites is illegal
Spokesperson for eThekwini Municipality, Msawakhe Mayisela, said that there are signboards inside and outside the premises stating that vagrants or recyclers are not allowed on site.
VAGRANTS and recyclers on Glanville Road in Woodlands are forewarned not to remove refuse off the garden site as it is illegal. This comes after escalating complaints by residents of rubbish left scattered around the area to the ward councillor, Gavin Hegter.
“People are not allowed to walk in and remove anything from the dump. One Saturday afternoon, rubbish was scattered all over the road. Stock pilers leave a mess and residents are upset about the filth scattered nearby their homes,” said Hegter. He said he understood the cause of the removal of the refuse, but that city by-laws were in place to protect residents and should be upheld at all times.
“People collect whatever they can sell. I’m not against recycling, I think that it is great, but the problem is with the mess they leave behind. The municipality has strict rules about recycling depots, the people who stop here to dump their rubbish in the depot are within their rights, it’s those who want to remove the dump that are causing problems,” Hegter added.
He said that there are usually 20 to 30 people scattered on this stretch of road going through the dump they’d removed to find things they could recycle and sell. “This is a security risk and criminals use this to their advantage. Hijackings are very high in this area. People also need to be aware that it is illegal to offload their rubbish on the side of the depot gate when it is closed.”
Spokesperson for eThekwini Municipality, Msawakhe Mayisela, said that there are signboards inside and outside the premises stating that vagrants or recyclers are not allowed on site.
“Enforce Security Guards have been told that they must not allow vagrants onsite in any circumstance. Some challenges in this regard is that residents of this area pick up vagrants outside the site and they bring them inside the site so they could assist them in offloading,” he said.
Mayisela added that security guards on site don’t have jurisdiction to operate outside the site as per their contract with the council, and they assist from the gate entrance and inside the site and not outside. He said the city had cleared the bush around the site three metres from the fence line so that security guards have visibility and can be able to see if any vagrants attempt to jump in the site, repaired all the damaged fence gaps and upgraded security measures by including a guard who is a dog handler on site.
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