St Lucia’s burning issue

DESPITE the hazardous health and environmental impacts of the blazing St Lucia’s landfill site, the Mtubatuba Municipality has not made it a budget priority.

At last week’s draft budget meeting, Municipal Administrator Bamba Ndwandwe announced only R200 000 had been budgeted for upgrades to the landfill site, while Nordale’s landfill will receive R2-million worth of upgrades.

After being issued with a notice of closure by the Department of Environmental Affairs last month, the municipality is expected to receive instruction from the national waste licensing authority on how to proceed.

The order will specify the amount to be budgeted for in the municipality’s mid-year review.

Plans are reportedly afoot to locate an alternative landfill site for St Lucia and surrounding areas and convert the existing site to a transfer station, where refuse will be separated into recyclables and other waste.

This was previously done by a company contracted by the municipality which, under former Municipal Manager Siyabonga Ntuli, lost the five-year contract after just two years without an explanation or another contractor taking over.

As a result, a sorting station complete with a warehouse, storage facilities and bailer now stands vacant, leaving bags of unrinsed recyclables attracting flies, snakes and rats.

Moreover, the recycling project created jobs and many local community members were paid on an incentive basis according to the weight of recyclables they sorted.

The contractor, however, allegedly never received payment for services rendered.

@TamlynJolly