It’s a neighbour that no one wants… an abattoir.

Cattle that moo or growl when they are unloaded and smell the blood.

Residents say an unbearable stench hangs in the air.

Foamy water running down the road, according to photographs supplied to the Middelburg Observer.

Other complaints from residents:

*A plague of flies.

*Dams that flood and make residents’ driveways impassable.

*Giant trucks that unload cattle at night and start again early in the morning.

*Cattle waste lying 20m from houses.

Rondebosch residents say they can’t take it anymore.

Their life on the smallholdings with breathtaking views and once tranquil, has turned into hell.

Out of desperation, they approached the Middelburg Observer as a last resort for help.

An accusing finger is being pointed at the Medina Abattoir.

According to residents, slaughtering has increased in the last few months.

Farmers have confirmed this.

Getting rid of the waste is clearly a headache for Medina.

It was dumped at the nearby Middelburg High School farm for a while, but after complaints about the stench, this was stopped.

Flip Jansen has since confirmed that the waste is now being dumped on his farm.

“Deep ditches are dug, and the manure, waste, and belly fat are thrown into them and covered.”

Residents say, like one man, “How could the abattoir have been allowed on our doorstep in the first place?

“We were never consulted.

“How can such an industry be operated only metres from our smallholdings?”

Their biggest concern is that an application has been made to increase the slaughtering from 40 to 270.

Construction has already started, and according to residents, they are already noticing an increase in trucks driving through Medina’s gates.

When the Observer visited on a Thursday evening, two giant trucks were on their way to Medina on the bad dirt road at around 20:00.

Residents claim they were never consulted during the approval process.

“We doubt the environmental impact assessment that was done and whether the water licence is in place.”

One of the Rondebosch residents, Willie Greyling, says he has asked an independent consultant to look at Medina’s application, ‘and there are several gaps’.

For some of the residents who have retired to Rondebosch, the blood, guts, and stench are especially bad when their grandchildren come to visit.

“You can’t have your grandchildren playing outside with that stench, and when the cattle are mooing when they are being unloaded.”

Medina Abattoir management, in response to complaints from nearby residents, said that local lawyer Gerrit Kruger had already placed an article in the Middelburg Observer 20 years ago to complain about the facility.

When asked, Kruger said he could not remember such an article.

It is further implied that the complaints are a vendetta by Willie Greyling, who later bought Kruger’s plot.

According to Medina, they comply with all the regulations and are here to stay.

Medina’s full response; the abattoir titled ‘History repeating itself’ – verbatim

We take note of the alleged complaints by the neighbours. We wish to place on record that on Friday, January 28th 2005 (twenty years ago) the Middelburg Observer published an article in terms of which a complaint was lodged by a MR GERHARDT KRUGER a local attorney regarding the establishment of the abattoir. MR GERHADRT KRUGER was at the time a resident of Plot 34 where MR WILLIE GREYLING is currently residing.

It should be noted that the establishment of the abattoir is subject to the granting of the permission by the Department of Agriculture as well as other departments including Water & Sanitation as well as the local municipality. Accordingly certain procedures are followed by the abattoir for it to be compliant with both the National, Provincial and Local Municipality Laws to which Medina Abattoir followed and have complied with.

We believe at the time the approvals were obtained MR WILLIE GREYLING was not ordinarily resident in the plot he is currently occupying as it was then occupied by MR GERHARD KRUGER and we believe that the said MR WILLIE GREYLING is instigating the other neighbours to lodge non-existing complaints.

Since 2021 MR WILLIE GREYLING has been complaining and inciting the neighbours. We have erected a boundary wall to keep our operations private and have noticed that pictures are being taken from over our boundary wall which should stop. MR WILLIE GREYLING does not respect himself and that is why he keeps trespassing on our property. If the complaints are anything to go by, we believe that the relevant Departments should by  consulted in order for them to launch an investigation.

We do not complain when neighbours’ dogs bark continuously and when the neighbours party with load music. It cannot be expected of us to respond to each and every little complain via the media. Medina Abattoir is compliant with the laws relating to the operations that are carried out from their premises and we are in no way going to be intimidated without any legal basis. The neighbours need to stop harassing the management of the abatooir with all regulations relating to its approved business on the farm.