Minister says Thaba Chweu’s landfill site disregards legal requirements
The minister of forestry, fisheries and the environment (DFFE), Barbara Creecy, has investigated 44 landfill sites across the province.
Of these, 17 were identified to have not been meeting legal requirements. They stretch over 20 different municipalities.
Thaba Chweu Local Municipality (TCLM) was identified as one of the municipalities. More particularly, the landfill sites in Sabie and Lydenburg were identified.
This follows an enquiry by Sonja Boshoff, DA member of parliament, into the state of landfill sites in the province.
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Steelburger/Lydenburg News has been receiving regular complaints from readers about the foul smell, smoke and other health hazards going uncontained at the Lydenburg landfill site.
The DFFE said it had consulted with its colleagues from the Mpumalanga Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Land and Environmental Affairs (Dardlea) before releasing a report.
Dardlea is the authority in the regulation of general waste matters. It indicated that the landfill sites in the province are licensed, except for the Sabie landfill site. According to Dardlea, a licence was issued to the Sabie landfill site in 2010, however, the site ceased operations after numerous interventions.
TCLM failed to comply with the legal requirements.
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According to Dardlea, a total of 32 of the 44 landfill sites are compacting their waste. Twenty landfill sites have controlled access. Some of the landfill sites had installed fencing, but some of this has been vandalised and stolen.
The landfill sites in the report have a compliance status of less than 50% against environmental legislation.
The DFFE will be working with the Mpumalanga provincial authorities through the intergovernmental forums, Mintek Agency and the working groups’ IV (4) and V11 (6), to assist these municipalities and ensure compliance. The DFFE will also offer training and waste management.
A case against TCLM for non-compliance with the Environmental Act is currently under litigation in the Mashishing Regional Court. TCLM’s municipal manager, Sphiwe Matsi, appeared in the Lydenburg Regional Court on Monday April 11 on 11 cases. The next court date is Monday June 13.
The cases were opened by DA Councillor Spiros Couvaras, Comfort Sibiya and other DA councillors.
They include the TCLM landfill sites that do not adhere to legal requirements as stated by Creecy and the National Environmental Management Act of 1998 and related environmental legislation, such as the Waste Act and the Air Quality Act, aimed at ensuring that the environment is protected for present and future generations.
The other municipalities not complying to regulations includes Belfast, Dullstroom, Waterval Boven, Machadodorp, Amersfoort, Perdekop, Wakkerstroom, Volksrust, Bethal, Standerton, Amsterdam, Grootvlei, Greylingstad, Dipaleseng, Tekwane, Mbombela, Bushbuckridge, Mkhuhlu, Maviljan, Phola in eMalahleni, Kwaggasfontein, Libangeni and Mamethlake.
TCLM was contacted for comment but had not responded by the time of going to press.
