The Morgenzon dumpsite has been shut down for over a year, leaving residents without a place to discard their waste.

The shutdown in early 2024 was due to non-compliance and overflow. However, there has been no progress in rehabilitating the land or establishing a new location.

In October last year, Lubabalo Majenge, the communications officer of the Lekwa Local Municipality (LMM), stated that the LLM had designated land for a new landfill and appointed a service provider.

“The project is progressing well,” stated Majenge.

But a year later, no work has been completed. Residents are fed up. Many have resorted to illegally dumping their waste. In one case, a school had to burn waste on its premises because there was no waste collection.

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“Lekwa only sends a collection truck once every two weeks and even then, it is unreliable,” stated the school’s principal.

Several Morgenzon shopkeepers have also resorted to burning waste in front of their shops because of the lack of proper waste collection and disposal services.

The site remains unregulated, with animals grazing on it as residents continue to dump more waste on the overfilled land.

Majenge reiterated on September 5 that LLM has applied for closure and once that has been approved, the landfill site will be closed.

“The process of land identification for the new landfill site had been undertaken.”