Unhealthy poultry farming a danger to residents’ health

Residents of Honingklip are both furious and hopeless about the constant fly problem in the area. While some claim it is part of living on a farm or a plot, others blame the constant stench and fly infestation on the unhygienic practices of a nearby poultry farm.

Alida Stapelberg, who lives next to the poultry farm, says she didn’t know what caused the unbearable smell until she discovered a hole near her house filled with chicken carcasses.

“I was exploring the area when I peeped into a large hole and realised the chicken farm had been dumping its dead chickens into it for an extended period of time,” Alida said.

She said she immediately contacted Mogale City Local Municipality’s Health and Sanitation Department to report the issue.

Themba Makhoba, chief of environmental health at the department, said the issue has received much attention over the last few months, and the matter has reached its final chapter. “We identified three main issues with the poultry farm that have not been attended to,” Makhoba explained. “Firstly, they do not dispose of chicken carcasses correctly. Secondly, they are contravening the law as they do not have an adequate waste management plan in place to guide activities such as the disposal of manure. Thirdly, they have failed to take action after warnings issued to them.”

Makhoba says the department has now issued a final warning to the poultry farm, as the smell and flies have both been directly linked to the disposal of carcasses and manure.

While the procedures to take legal action drag on, residents are growing ever more impatient with the problems caused by the farm.

Burt Weakley, who also lives nearby, said he’s had to spend a considerable amount of money to get rid of the flies, but it has become a running cost as the flies never seem to stop coming. “We use several cans of fly killing spray, but still don’t get rid of them entirely,” he said. “We’ve given up on the fly tree traps because they fill up within a day and then give off an unbearable stench.”

Councillor for the ward, Zillah Wehinger-Maguire, said something must be done soon as illness is on the increase among the residents because of the flies.

“We bought a plot to enjoy the outdoor space, but the smell is so repulsive and the flies so overbearing that we don’t even dare to open our front door,” Alida said.

“The fight against the poultry farm’s unhygienic practices has become ridiculous, and we’re fed up at having to spend hundreds of rands every month just to make our houses liveable.”

The News attempted to contact the poultry farm, but the call went unanswered.

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