Since the last article was published in the Addie regarding dumping, there has been no change until recently when residents cleaned the rubbish.
On Thursday frustrated residents cleaned the municipality-owned vacant land at the Springs Avenue on the corner of 9th Avenue and 6th Street.
This comes after illegal dumping in the area escalated and the stench and rodents became unbearable.
Thelma Pitsaladis, a resident who lives nearby, says they burnt the rubbish to try and get rid of the foul smell it caused in the area.
“We cleaned the open space for almost the whole day seeing that the municipality had neglected the land,” says Pitsaladis.
The residents loaded 32 refuse bags which needed three trips to the dump site.
Pitsaladis says as concerned residents they felt it was important to take action seeing that their complains to the municipality have been ignored.
Another resident, Maggie Jansen, says the smell had been getting steadily worse.
“The dump site causes a serious health risk because the municipality does not clean the open space which has also became an attraction for by passers-by to dump their rubbish,” says Jansen.
“We get rodents, maggots and flies inside our homes because of the rubbish that has been there for so long.”
After numerous attempts, the Ekurhuleni Metro failed to comment at the time of publishing.
