Goodman Nkosi, chairperson of the Hazyview Chamber of Business and Tourism, is concerned about the continuous illegal dumping on the R538.

He called on the City of Mbombela to clear up the rubbish next to the road, saying that it painted a bad picture of the municipality and the province as a whole.

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The area in question stretch from the plantations outside White River up to the Nkambeni Bridge near Hazyview.
“As the tourism sector, we are worried that this will negatively impact our businesses, as some tourists will not come back to visit the area again. It is also not good for our environment. The illegal dumping is especially concerning outside one of the Whiter River plantations, the Dayzenza Shopping Centre’s bus stop, the Mahushu Cemetery and the Nkambeni Bridge. The rubbish is piling up daily,” Nkosi said.

He said the roads are in a bad shape, making it difficult and dangerous to drive on. Now residents and businesses in the area also have to contend with the stinking waste strewn next to the road. “We are pleading with the members of the public to refrain from polluting the environment by dumping their garbage anywhere, but to use the designated areas. As for the municipality, they must consider providing rubbish bins for all these affected areas.”

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Meanwhile, a local businessman, Andrew Ngwenya, echoed Nkosi’s sentiments, reiterating that the garbage next to the roads is bad for his business and other local vendors. “We have people running their businesses on the R538 and some of them are next to the illegal dumping area. This has affected their businesses, as customers cannot buy from places that are filthy. We do not have bins or designated dumping areas, and with the municipality not collecting garbage in our community, residents have resorted to dumping in any open veld,” he said.

Ngwenya said if the problem persists, business owners will be forced to close their businesses and move to a cleaner area, which will mean a loss of jobs.

A local vendor, Sylvia Nkuna, said she blames the community members and some of the local businesses trading near the area where the illegal dumping is done. “We dump with the intention to burn the waste at the end of a trading day, but now residents have joined in and it is getting out of control. Anyone can dump at any time and no action will be taken against that person. So it must start with us, by making sure we clean up when we make a mess and apply for bigger bins from the municipality instead of shifting the blame on other people,” she said.

The spokesperson for CoM, Joseph Ngala, said they will need to investigate the matter before action can be taken.