Noise pollution problems persist in Mbombela

The City of Mbombela’s (CoM) inability to enforce by-laws to combat the noise issue in town is forcing residents to seek legal recourse and find alternative, quieter residences. Irate community members have been complaining to the municipality about the noise since 2017, but it has fallen on deaf ears. Coyotes Shisa Nyama is one of the establishments that is at the forefront of this problem.

It is still trading notwithstanding complaints of excessive noise until the early hours of the morning and especially over weekends. People have laid several complaints against the establishment with the CoM, police and managers of the club. Coyotes’ manager, Sanele Mbiya, said their trading licence shows they are allowed to trade until 02:00, but they always lower the music volume after 00:00.

“If people have problems with us they are welcome to come and complain about the noise. We are willing to engage with anyone who has an issue with it, so that we can solve it in a civil way,” Mbiya said.

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A DA councillor, Tersia Marshall, said two petitions have been signed by the community over the past few years. “The first was in 2019 and was signed by

15 000 disgruntled residents. The process was followed by a motion that addressed the council’s inability to enforce by-laws. Little came of it. A second petition from the community gained momentum in 2021 shortly after Covid regulations were relaxed and establishments weren’t adhering to them. The police also did not fulfil their mandate and duty to enforce regulations,” Marshall explained.

Due to the continuous change in Covid regulations, this petition was not escalated further.  Marshall said it is frustrating as noise pollution is a major problem and yet no solution has been found. Not even a complaint to the Human Rights Commission solved the problem.

This week, a group of concerned citizens confirmed they were seeking a legal remedy and plan to take up the process and finalise the said application. Residents’ frustrations stem from the inability to sleep and schoolchildren especially struggle as the loud, booming music keeps them awake.

Call centres are not operational and geared to deal with complaints. Complaints on social media range from residents claiming “they feel harassed and not respected”, to “they are being held hostage” and “the police and the CoM seem to be doing nothing about the issue”.

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The Mpumalanga Economic Regulator’s (MER) spokesperson, Cedric Chiolane, said licence holders who contravene their liquor licence conditions or fail to comply with all applicable legal prescripts, such as noise control in the province, could have their licences suspended or cancelled.

“Liquor licence holders are urged to take all reasonable steps to ensure that the noise level from the liquor premises does not cause unacceptable disturbance or nuisance to the neighbours or surroundings, at all times.” Unfortunately, the MER does not have jurisdiction over noise pollution and related matters.

Noise control is a function of local municipalities and governed through municipal by-laws. The spokesperson for CoM, Joseph Ngala, insisted that people should contact the call centres to complain and it would be dealt with accordingly. “People need to understand that the call centre agent does not deal with the complaints, but the operators’ work is to take complaints and reroute them to relevant departments.

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“We take our by-laws very seriously, because we have law enforcements to deal with the noise. We are doing everything in our power to make sure that we bring an end to the noise pollution,” he said. Ngala also said notices had been issued and guilty parties could be fined for transgression.

However, he made it clear that it is done in a confidential manner as it is “not the municipality’s business to name and shame.”