DESPITE officials from the Public Protector’s office saying Norkem Park Transfer Station should be closed, this will in all likelihood not happen.
“No recommendations were made to close the station,” Ekurhuleni Metro spokesman, Themba Gadebe, said on November 10.
This comes more than a year after the Public Protector investigated the transfer station next to McDonald’s in Norkem Park. The investigation came after years of complaining by residents about the mess left at the station as a result of vagrants trying to sell goods on the pavement.
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Gadebe said the master plan for public off-loading facilities and transfer stations for Waste Management Services has been concluded. The master plan recommended the upgrading of several facilities as well as the proposal for the establishment of several new facilities.
“It was recommended that the nuisance caused by unemployed people at the entrance to Norkem Park Transfer Station be dealt with by various law enforcement agencies,” Gadebe said.
“I would like to know what progress has been made by the municipality to move the transfer station. It is a disgusting mess around the whole area. Please could the authorities take charge and try to solve this situation,” a resident wrote to Express a few weeks ago.
Express reported in October last year that the Public Protector conducted an on-site inspection on October 21 and met with the community at Mooifontein Primary School.
According to Piet Moloi, senior investigator and regional manager of the Public Protector, at the time, the transfer station contradicted 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 last year.
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.
Moloi also said 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, last year confirmed the site wouldn’t be closed as yet as the metro was still searching for alternative space.
André Human, a representative from the waste management department, at the time said consultants had been appointed to handle the dumping site issue and by next August (2015) 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 a year ago.
