For over a year, residents in Olifant Street, Toekomsrus have been putting up with a dumping site that has made living in the area unbearable and is a big health risk.
Residents said despite several attempts to try and resolve the issue, they got nowhere and as the days go by, the situation is getting worse.
Tyrone Rooskrans, whose father died from chest illness, said his father’s condition deteriorated because he breathed the contaminated air in the area.
My father was a prisoner in his own house as the doors and the windows had to be kept closed every day,” Rooskrans said.
He added that every time someone burnt garbage, his father would be badly affected, but his complaints fell on deaf ears.
“People even come here to dump their dead pets. They do not dig holes to bury the animals and just leave them lying here. Now that it is summer, the place is going to smell even worse,” he said.
Rooskrans said what is even more shameful is that the dumping is happening behind a school (Hartzstraat Primary School).
“The people who are suffering are those who live here, not those who are dumping,” he said.
He said other than enduring the bad smell, there are rats that end up in people’s yards, which he said could be a very big health risk to the locals as they could carry diseases.
Satch Meullen, another community member said: “This dumping is reducing the values of our properties. Some people want to extend, but because there is a dumping site next to their houses, it will not help. The place is a death bed.”
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