THE Public Protector is investigating complaints about Norkem Park Transfer Station next to McDonald’s.
Residents had been complaining for years now about the mess left at the station as a result of vagrants trying to sell goods on the pavement.
Investigators from the Public Protector conducted an on site inspection on October 21 and also met with the community at Mooifontein Primary School.
According to Piet Moloi, senior investigator and regional manager of the Public Protector, the transfer station contradicts the environmental act.
“Our research shows that the site does not apply with environmental laws as it is situated within a residential area. What was originally built to be used only as a transfer station, has now unfortunately turned into a dumping site because the public incorrectly utilises the site by dumping inappropriate material.
“Whether the municipality cleans up the area regularly or not, is irrelevant. The only solution being considered is that it should be closed down,” Moloi explained.
The site was legal at the time of being built because there was no residential development surrounding it.
From this point moving forward, plans to have it removed will have to be included in the integrated development plan to have funds allocated before it can be officially shut down.
“Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality must make a commitment to take the site out. From our side, we will be pushing for the municipality to close the site down,” Moloi said.
According to Moloi, the metro was still looking for alternative appropriate land space.
Nhlanhla Cibi from the Gauteng Province Premier’s Office, who was appointed to resolve the issue of the transfer site, confirmed the site wouldn’t be closed as yet as the metro was still searching for alternative space.
“According to Ekurhuleni Metro the transfer station in Norkem park will not be closed as yet due to the fact that Ekurhuleni is still looking for an alternative place around the area that will be utilised as a transfer station. Ekurhuleni Metro has promised to come up with a master plan insuring the resolution of this matter. They have also alluded that there are processes that need to be followed in resolving the matter which have already started unfolding,” Cibi said.
This comes after many years of residents complaining about the inappropriately placed transfer site. According to Johnny de Villiers, a Norkem Park resident who has been at the forefront of the battle to have the site removed for nine years now, there has also been a petition requesting the removal of the transfer station. It has been signed by 11 businesses, residents from three townhouse complexes, a school and over 260 individual residents living close to, next to and within 500m of the site.
“There are many other alternatives that can be used as a dumping site. There are some spaces available in Chloorkop. The metro should have done its town planning properly and knew the place would eventually become a residential area,” De Villiers said.
André Human, a representative from the waste management department, said consultants had been appointed to handle the dumping site issue and by next August a master plan would be in place.
“The Norkem Park transfer station will eventually go. It might take time but it will be dealt with. Prioritisation for it within the department needs to be done first where a budget is allocated. Only then can it be systems go. We will also look for other facilities for the land,” Human commented.
Moloi said the protector’s office would call a meeting between the community and the metro where an agreement could be signed that binds the metro into resolving the dumping site issue once and for all. The meeting is earmarked for early December.
In the meantime, Moloi urged the public to not aggravate the situation by continuing to dump inappropriate rubble at the site.
“The community should learn that the transfer station is only meant to be used to get rid of garden refuse, not other household goods such as furniture and electrical appliances, because those are the things that have led to the transfer station situation spiraling out of control.”
Moloi said residents was burdening the municipality by dumping the wrong things, also leading to the people who sit outside the site and cause the mess on the street. If the community was only dumping garden refuse, those people wouldn’t sit there looking for items to pick and sell out of people’s rubble, Moloi concluded.
