There has been no improvement at the dumpsite and people living in the area are despondent.
This past weekend the dumpsite smoke emanating from the landfill site once again, only means one thing.
It covered the area like a cloud.
Residents and workers at Paxton and surrounding villages can’t exit their homes.
A resident at Paxton said: “I don’t know who sets it alight but yesterday we could not exit our homes from around 14:00. I am stuck with flu now, due to the smoke. It is heaps of toxic plastic and stuff we have to breathe in.”
This was an issue in April and feedback was given by the municipality: “We did inspection and we discovered they were not meeting all requirements as per service level agreement and tender scope. We are reviewing all invoices so that we can make correct payment. In the interim the municipality is trying to clear the site and we’re appealing to residents to be patient.”
Another resident, Mr Nico Fourie residing on a plot neighbouring the dumpsite lodged his concerns regarding the continuous burning.
“I sent Whatsapp messages to the Municipal Manager on May 6 in respect of the fire and smoke at the landfill site. He responded to the message.”
A month later the situation did not get any better, totally unbearable actually, Fourie then lodged more complaints but with no success this time around.
“I visited the landfill site myself on Saturday June 15 and I discovered that rubble is dumped all the way on the sides of the landfill site. There are no machines on site to level the rubble or to compact it. No ground material is put over the rubble and there is a fire on the landfill site.”
He added that in May, he spoke to two senior managers at the Department of Health responsible for the landfill site and they mentioned that there are some serious challenges as there is no contractor on site.
They added that in order to stop the fire they will have to open from the top as it is burning from the inside.
“The current status is a direct violation of the constitutional rights of all the residents of eMalahleni to a clean and healthy environment. On my visit to the landfill site on June 17 on the western side, approximately 200 metres from the entrance gate it was discovered that the rubble is dumped outside the landfill site, it is believed that this is due to difficulties experienced to access the landfill site,” Fourie added.
Numerous questions have been posed to the council, but with no success.
Mr Lebohang Mofokeng was also contacted to give feedback regarding the current situation but nothing was received by time of print.
