Morgenzon dumpite to close
The Morgenzon dumpsite has been a health and safety hazard for many years. The Lekwa Local Municipality will close it to make way for a newer, safer and managed landfill.
Morgenzon will get a new landfill site, and the current landfill site will soon be closed and rehabilitated, according to the Lekwa Local Municipality’s (LMM) spokesperson, Lubabalo Majenge. He said the site had reached maximum capacity and would be closed for rehabilitation.
“This is why we applied for a closure licence from the Mpumalanga Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Land and Environmental Affairs. The license was subsequently issued,” explained Majenge.
The municipality has appointed a service provider responsible for this project.
“The LMM developed an action plan, and the project is progressing well,” added Majenge.
He explained that the LMM had identified a location for a new dumpsite, and the municipality is sourcing funds to take on this project.
“In ensuring the full realisation of this project, the municipality is working with the Ward 14 community, the surrounding areas and the Mpumalanga department,” concluded Majenge.
AfriForum audited landfill sites throughout SA earlier this year, with Morgenzon’s dump site failing miserably.
The Standerton Advertiser published a story in August about the dire state of this dumpsite and the hazards residents face.
It had become a health and safety hazard because the site had no regulations. Medical waste and dangerous chemicals lay strewn about, and livestock roamed the site freely, feeding on the heaps of garbage.
There were many animal carcasses scattered around the premises. AfriForum district co-ordinator Hennie Bekker is optimistic about the rehabilitation project, praising the prioritisation of a new site.
“The uncontained waste scattered due to wind is harmful to the environment and a small town like Morgenzon,” explained Bekker.
He said this waste could have severe repercussions for this agriculturally-driven town’s economy. Devastating fires could run rampant on agricultural land and spread into town because of the site’s proximity.
Though AfriForum is optimistic about this welcomed change, Bekker said they want to see the location and management of the new dumpsite first-hand.
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“Recalling the progress made on the Standerton dumpsite terrain over the last year makes us positive that this change will be just as successful,” concluded Bekker.
A businessman from Morgenzon said the services in his town are chaotic. The current landfill site is unregulated. Anyone can drive in and dump whatever they want.
“It would be good if the landfill site gets regulated. But we also need other services LLM ignores, such as fixing an overflowing sewage drain near the current dump site.”
This problem is just one of many overflowing sewerage drains reported in vain to the LLM.
“Apparently, Lekwa does not have the equipment to sort out the problem. The main pipe between the town and the purification works is apparently blocked.
“In the meantime, the sewage effluent flows into the Osspruit, which supplies water to the town dam. Our tap water looks like raw dam water for a month now,” the businessman concluded.
