MEMBERS of the Glen An-Hills Neighbourhood Watch took a stand this weekend to stop people from illegally dumping on Malacca Road.

Illegal dumping on Malacca Road and, in particular, outside the municipal garden refuse site, has been exacerbated by a wildcat strike by workers from the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu), which the eThekwini Municipality says is over.

One of the knock-on effects of the strike has been the lack of service delivery, especially when it comes to refuse removal and waste management.

Also read: WATCH: Clean-up operations begin outside Riverside dump

Despite the City opening landfill sites to accept household waste, residents continue to dump their refuse along Malacca Road and Ryde Place.

Chairperson of the Glen An-Hills Neighbourhood Watch, Neil Olivier, said this was the second weekend in a row that patrollers stopped people from illegally dumping.

“We’ve tried our best to stop people from adding to the already substantial piles of rubbish. We’ve had people who’ve attempted to illegally dump and were unhappy when we stopped them, but this is illegal dumping, no matter what you want to call it. Prior to the strike, illegal dumping was limited to an intersection of Malacca Road and Ryde Place and an area close to the informal settlement. However, now, the piles of rubbish line the sidewalks all the way up to Rivers Church, who’ve also tried to clean up as best they can.

“As the neighbourhood watch, we’ve been in touch with the area-based manager who has assured us that they’ve prioritised Malacca Road to clean up. The piles of rubbish on either side of the road have now effectively reduced the road to one lane. We feel the clean-up to remove the rubbish will take a lot of resources and may even take days to clear. Our fear is if nothing is done soon, the piles of rubbish may start to creep into the Rinaldo Road park,” he said.

Deputy chairperson of the watch Avi Pillay said they’d noticed how much of what was being dumped were items not accepted at garden refuse sites.

“We’ve noticed building material, washing machines and wooden poles being dumped along the side of the road. We acknowledge there are extenuating circumstances, but we cannot allow for our area to be destroyed by illegal dumping. We’ve used the two operations to not only stop people from illegal dumping but also to tell them there are other options available. There are some people who genuinely didn’t know the refuse site was closed and others who’ve taken advantage of the situation. To combat this, we are now in the final stages of installing a camera which we hope will lead to the capture and prosecution of illegal dumpers,” he said.

If you would like to get involved with the watch or contribute to its camera project, contact Avi on 078 400 8990 or follow this link to their Facebook page.

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