I feel that the Ekurhuleni Municipality is doing nothing to better our town.
The reason for me saying this is that the people making a living in the plastic squatter camp have the right to put up their shacks near the entrance of our town.
They also walk across the road to the dump site and bring the goods they want to sort, making a mess as far as they walk.
They sort the stuff and just leave the rest to blow away in the wind and mess up the surroundings.
Then they burn the plastic, resulting in toxic fumes spreading over houses in the surrounding areas.
These are the homes of people who paid for their properties.
The fumes must have an effect on their own lungs, but also that of the people in the area.
The council has promised to look into the matter and, at some stage, they were going to forcibly remove these people, but they are still there and growing in numbers by the day.
On the evening of March 10, when there was a power failure, I saw the biggest fire ever coming from the squatter camp.
Smoke billowed high into the night sky and slowly blew over to the west, covering a very large area.
Surely if someone in the council had a house in the affected area action would have been taken a long time ago?
Why must Brakpan must be turned into an unpleasant and unsightly town for the residents and visitors to our town?
Most of the councillors who visit the town probably arrive early in the morning and depart early in the afternoon.
They do not see the horrific sight and experience the awful smell of burning plastic.
I do not resent people making a living.
It will be great for our town if they recycle, as there are not enough easily accessible places to recycle plastic, bottles, bags, etc.
On the afternoon of March 31, they burned something, resulting in a thick cloud of smoke hanging over the area.
I stay about 2km away, but I had to close my windows and doors because the smoke burned my lungs.
Nothing is being done about these people, the street lights are burning during the day, and there are many potholes and water leaks, not to mention the bad state of pavements.
