I, as well as my daughter, travel along this route several times a day to and from customers, the bank, lawyers and auditors, during the course of a normal work day.
My daughter is the firm’s director and I the CEO,and we have built a good business together over the past 21 years and contribute to the economy of this town, as we do most of our business and personal purchases from local suppliers.
We saw the dump start up years ago and even then we started complaining to the local municipality about the rubbish and development of a squatter camp.
Of course nobody cared or heeded us and certainly many others predicted that this mess would grow out of control.
We, as a corporate company, receive many guests from all over this country, as well as from Europe and Asia.
When we fetch them from or take them to the O R Tambo International Airport from our factory, we pass by the plastic dumps and the way the “baggers “ run across the road to and from the dumps, puts us, our guests and every single person who uses the road at risk.
How long before hijackings and murders start happening, involving the criminal who is so close to the road?
I have a suggestion to contribute: cut off the source, namely the Weltevreden Rubbish Dumps!
The concrete wall designed to keep trespassers out was simply broken by these vandals, to gain entrance to the dumps.
These concrete walls do not stop vandals and scavengers from gaining entry to the dumps and, as the squatter camp extends in all directions of growth, the collectors simply break open a new section of wall to gain access and shorten the carrying distance from the dumps.
I notice that the wall, where broken, has been professionally repaired with a steel door frame, to protect the scavengers, instead of closing and repairing the walls to limit access.
Furthermore, the whole area looks like a war zone in Syria — the way the holes have been dug up in search of gold, we are informed.
My suggestion: after completion of the N12 highway and others, thousands of bollards have been stacked in areas around this and other highways.
If these bollards (huge concrete barrier blocks) can be employed to be placed around the Weltevreden dumps, and even stacked one on top of the other, this would effectively shut off access to the dumps and stop accidents, damage to vehicles, injury and death from occurring.
Has anyone seen how many crosses of the dead are now being put on this stretch of road?
This action will be difficult to perform, given that the ground around the dump is very uneven and would require serious earth works.
But, if these indestructible barriers were placed along the opposite side of the road, adjoining the squatter camp, 2m back from the tar verge and 2m high, all the way from the traffic circle down to the vlei area, close to the entrance of The Rock Raceway, this would effectively stop the baggers from moving their rubbish over to the squatter camp, and the surface is level enough to place the bollards.
One must remember that all this plastic gathering has to be collected by vehicles that require access to the camp.
If the collector trucks can’t gain access, the plastic (which is stacked or bagged in large volumes) cannot be moved.
There should be no gaps between the bollards sufficient for any access.
This will prevent people crossing the road to and from the dumps and, if vehicles are found loading on the verge of the road over the bollards, the EMPD can take action to remove these vehicles for obstruction!
A good example of where these bollard are in use is on the N17 highway, towards Ermelo, where the bollards were used to close access to a large tract of land and divert water flow from causing erosion to the surrounding area.
In Brakpan, there are huge mounds of soil that the municipality dumped around the length of the wall after the main entrance, but they left an opening for the baggers to walk through to the wall “gate“.
Close up the holes in the ground and keep dumping huge amounts of soil without breaks all the way along the wall, and that will hamper any further attempt to gain access to the dumps.
If the squatters try to dig their way through, simply send a JCB to close the sand mound.
Repair and keep the wall closed to vandals, and execute daily inspections and repairs, after all, it is taxpayers money footing the bill.
Good luck to whoever can present this platform to stop the carnage and pollution.
