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Illegal dumping affects suburb

MIDRAND - Brand Road in President Park is in a tranquil setting with a few residences and pristine veld, only occasionally interrupted by the sight of the Gautrain which runs alongside the road.

It’s not a place one would expect to find broken bottles, twisted wire and plastic bags gathered into unsightly heaps.

Yet this is a sight school principal Andre Botha and other residents have to deal with every day.

Botha has lived in the area for over 30 years and remembers when the veld alongside his home was the habitat of jackals, hedgehogs and rabbits – instead of an illegal dumping site.

“We’ve watched Midrand develop and quite frankly I don’t like what I’m seeing. It is a major problem here with so much building development going on, and so little enforcement of restrictions,” said Botha.

Botha expressed concerns he had over safety because the dump was attracting vagrants who dumped late at night and early in the morning.

“I am also worried that the refuse could be visible to passengers travelling on the Gautrain as the train runs right past the veld. It must be so bad for tourists to see this and get this kind of impression of South Africa,” he said.

According to Botha, at least one species has already been completely eradicated from the area.

“It used to be pristine veld,” he explains, “The dumping has actually destroyed the habitat of the green bullfrogs that used to live there.”

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