Dumping behind crèche a health risk

Children at a crèche in Elandspoort are at risk due to the dumping taking place behind the crèche.

February 5, 2015

Nthabiseng Madumo 1 minute read

Land used as a dumping site by residents.

Residents and workers at a crèche in Mauser Street, Elandspoort are concerned about the health of their children since residents turned a neighbouring piece of land into a dumping site.

Dead animals, beds, household and garden rubbish are dumped on the land, which is also used as a passage by residents.

“The dumping started between November and December and it smells horrible. This is a great health risk for our children because it is directly behind the crèche,” Cecilia Kleyn said.

She said decomposing carcasses of dumped dead animals created the horrible smell and was a problem because the windows of the crèche and the kitchen were on the side of the open land. “We now have a problem with mice at the crèche due to the dumping and some children, including my grandson, have had diarrhea because of this dumping problem,” Kleyn said.

Kleyn also mentioned residents usually dumped on the land at night. People using the open land as a passage were afraid to use it because of the dumping and long grass. She said they have called Tshwane metro a couple of times for assistance but nothing has been done.

A while back residents living near the open land requested Tshwane metro to create a park for the children of the area, but their request fell on deaf ears.

Another resident, Joey Botes, said that dumping in the area is a problem and nothing is being done about it. “The metro needs to come clean here. This is unacceptable.”

Residents were pleading with the public to stop dumping on the open land since it was a health risk for the children and other people.