Major health risk in Menlo Park
A new year but residents and pupils at a school in Menlo Park still face the same problems with a stinking, fly-invested dump site on its doorstep.
Deteriorating conditions at the Menlo Park garden refuse transfer site now pose a health risk to residents and a neighbouring school.
Problems at the site in 26th Street have resurfaced despite an urgent intervention of the Tshwane health MEC’s office last year.
“Pupils at the Nuwe Hoop special needs school, as well as surrounding residences up to 1km away are plagued by hordes of flies daily,” said Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor Siobhan Muller.
“Now that the rain has arrived, the huge mounds of rotting garden refuse leave a continual stench across the area.”
When Rekord visited the site on Monday morning, the smell was overbearing.
Muller said the dump, which was supposed to be only a transfer site, was now being used as a permanent refuse heap as the Tshwane metro was not transporting rubbish to the Hatherley landfill site daily as required.
Asked why the garden refuse was not being removed, the metro told Muller there were only two trucks available to transport thousands of tons of refuse to the main landfill site.
At the time of going to print, the Tshwane metro had not yet responded to queries about the site.
In early 2014, when the site landed in the media spotlight, it had been in the same condition it could be found in in early 2016, Muller said.
“The garden refuse which should be cleared daily to the Hatherley landfill site had refuse piled up 12m high and infested with snakes, rats and flies.”
“Municipal workers are forced to work in these appalling conditions and the environmental rights of residents, workers and pupils alike which are enshrined in our Constitution are simply
ignored,” said Muller.
“In the Bill of Rights, it states that everyone has a right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being. This is certainly not the case in the residential areas surrounding the Menlo Park site “
In January 2015 when Muller approached the MEC for Health on a visit to the first day of school at the Nuwe Hoop School, the MEC acted and the site was cleared — though this took time.
“For a short while the site was close to the conditions expected at a transfer site but within months the situation deteriorated.”
Muller said the claim that only two trucks were available for moving refuse was made worse by the fact that four of the landfill sites across the city had been closed, causing a landfill crises in the metro.
“Residents travel from as far Rietvlei Dam to dump at this site.
“The garden refuse site is needed in the suburbs, but an operational one, not this poor excuse at management,” Muller said.
“The mayor must intervene in this health mess and province needs to act if necessary. ”
A FET college for 5 000 students was being built adjacent to the site.
“By the end of the year, a further 5 000 people will therefore have their constitutional rights violated by a municipality that shows it does not care about its residents or workers.”
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