UPDATE: Activist says booted Erasmuskloof waste pickers should sue

A local activist has called on so-called “waste pickers” booted off a veld in Erasmuskloof in the east of Pretoria to take legal action against the municipality and any other parties involved.

“Registering a complaint with the Lawyers for Human Rights would help protect such groups from victimisation,” said local activist Stefan van der Westhuizen. 

Van der Westhuizen described the waste pickers’ removal as “unconstitutional”.

This as waste pickers and their families, who lived and operated on the piece of land on the corners of Solomon Mahlangu and Delmas roads, was removed last Monday.

“They were only trying to make a living,” said van der Westhuizen.

READ MORE: UPDATE: Evicted Erasmuskloof recyclers remove fence to reoccupy land

He called on the waste pickers to form pressure groups, which can force the government “to act in a respectful manner”.

He said simply relocating the group would not solve the problem because “new tenants” would now simply move into the veld.

“Waste pickers come to suburban areas for socioeconomic reasons,” he said.

“It is where their ‘products’ are.”

He said the metro should build collecting and sorting stations in each suburb with nearby hostels to house waste pickers.

READ MORE: UPDATE: Confusion over who must move Erasmuskloof squatters

The metro, however, said the removal of the waste pickers was a clean-up operation – and not an eviction.

Instead, they said, they rather cleaned up the area jointly with the owners.

According to the environment and agriculture MMC Dana Wannenburg, the Prevention of Illegal Eviction from and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act (PIE) prescribed that the landowner apply for an eviction order from the relevant court.

“Whether this was obtained is unknown,” he said.

He said the metro’s environmental management inspectors responded to complaints from the public about possible contraventions of the National Environmental Management Act and the National Environment Management: Waste Act at the property.

READ MORE: NEWSFLASH: Foetus found in Erasmuskloof

“They served a warning letter on the occupants on the premises conducting the alleged illegal waste activity, as well as on the site’s registered owner, informing them of the specific legislation being violated.”

“City officials, the property owner and the informal recyclers agreed that the waste pickers would sell as much of their recyclables as possible on or before 23 September,” he said, adding that the property owner requested the City for assistance to clean and clear the site of all waste materials.

For months there has been a dispute between the Tshwane metro and the Public Investment Corporation (Pic), a state-owned entity, over who owned which part of the land in question.
Pic head of corporate affairs Deon Botha said his organisation had on several occasions asked that the metro work with it to clean and fence off the land.

Eventually, they had fenced the entire land at their own cost.

He said the sale agreement between the metro and the Pic was that the metro would relocate the recyclers before handing the land over to them.

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