Residents urged to stop Rooihuiskraal illegal dumping
“The dumpers, which include garden services and residents, are of the opinion that they have a right to dump there as they pay rates and taxes or have permits to dump at the garden refuse site.”
Centurion residents have been urged to stop dumping illegally in Rooihuiskraal.
This comes after the closure of the garden refuse site due to the ongoing Samwu worker’s strike.
The situation has led to some dumping illegally as their waste was not removed.
Ward 69 councillor Cindy Billson said she was aware of the situation and added that she was engaging with metro officials.
“I have requested the department and the city manager to please include me in the meetings with garden services.
She said currently metro police were not in a position to monitor and prevent residents from illegally dumping waste as they were busy escorting water and electricity personnel to repair sites.
The garden refuse site has been closed for about two weeks due to the municipal strike.
Resident Andre Jordaan told Rekord that the municipality was failing residents by not providing cost-effective and safe alternatives for waste disposal.
“The city has failed the residents of the nearby residential complexes by not providing adequate law enforcement to prevent illegal dumping as promoted in various media statements.
“Not only is this a dangerous situation for road users, it is also a health risk and fire hazard as demonstrated on Saturday evening,” said Jordaan.
He said the community members were also failing each other by displaying their careless behaviour, which he said was unacceptable and inconsiderate.
“The dumpers, which include garden service companies and residents, believe that they have a right to dump there as they pay rates and taxes or have permits to dump at the garden refuse site.
“The situation is worse than it has been before as all types of waste are dumped here: household, building, and garden refuse.”
Jordaan said some of the people who were dumping waste illegally were not Tshwane residents.
“I have been staying in this area for more than 20 years and the area has grown considerably.
“Even when the site is operational, it is not well managed and maintained and it is inadequate for the volume of refuse it has to process,” he said.
Louis van Schalkwyk, garden service company operator, said there was nowhere else to dump refuse but there.
Van Schalkwyk said the municipality didn’t offer an alternative but instead decided to close the site.
“The majority of us are running a business here, and we go to our customers’ houses to clean and take out the garbage, where are residents expecting us to dump it? I understand that this is frustrating to them but it’s equally frustrating to us as business people,” he said.
Van Schalkwyk said they have been engaging with the metro but have not reached common ground.
He said the metro seems not to have any solution to the problems the Rooihuiskraal residents face.Residents urged to stop Rooihuiskraal illegal dumping
Tshwane bus services remain suspended
Do you have more information about the story?
Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram
