Nelspruit faces an illegal dumping pandemic
The problem with waste management is the fact that currently Mbombela has no bylaws as the existing ones have all expired....
Illegal dumping in and around the city has become an almost unmanageable problem and will have to be addressed as a matter of urgency. This was according to the Mbombela Local Municipality Chief Operations Officer, Skinadza Siboza. Siboza accompanied DA councillor Werner le Grange and Mbombela Environmental Officer Johannes Mulaudzi on a fact finding mission around the city on Tuesday morning.
The group was accompanied by the media. Various spots around the city were visited including areas in Steiltes and Nelsville where the issue of illegal dumping on street, corners by residents in those areas, were highlighted. “The rpoblem starts when one person places a rubbish on the corner and it does not get removed by Council. Tomorrow there will be four more bags and by the end of the week it would have become a heap,” Le Grange said. “Rubbish bags on the street corners attract stray cats and dogs that tear these bags open and thats how the entire area become strewn with household waste.”
Various strategies were brainstormed during the trip which could be implemented to combat the illegal dumping problem. One option was the reimplementation of Council skips to be placed at strategic locations, making it possible for the residents to dump their rubbish in an environmentally friendly manner. “The new dumpsite at Tekwane is just too far for people to drive. It makes no sense that if you have only one or two bags of refuse to drive all that way out to dispose of them. We have to give the public a viable alternative, like a skip or centralized waste disposal point.”
The biggest stumbling block in the way of a cleaner, better managed city, is the abscence of bylaws. “Currently Mbombela has no bylaws in place because the current laws have expired. The laws are not currently propogated and a process is needed to establish new bylaws through a process of public participation which will then help formulate new laws. In June a workshop was hosted by the council regarding this issue, but to date no progress has been made in this rergard. In other words we are currently living in a lawless society.”
Having no bylaws prevents the council from prosecuting perpetrators in cases of not only illegal dumping but also in the much publicised “street mechanics” debacle in Bester Street.
“It is all fair and well that we have all these action plans in place, but until council has proper bylaws and enforcers thereof, the situation will never get better.”
