Second dumping site road made illegally

The overflowing landfill site along the Vondeling road in Makhado (Louis Trichardt) is not only an eyesore, but has some residents literally stuck in rubbish.

The Makhado Municipality confirmed on 20 March that the “second” access road that was created at the back of the landfill site to ease the strain on the front entrance was illegal.

In the beginning of March, with the heavy rains, municipal trucks were photographed dumping refuse on the access road to farms at the back of the landfill site. Municipal machinery was also spotted scraping a “second” road at the southwestern side of the landfill site, to be accessed from the farm access road. This was apparently done to provide access to the landfill site from the back as the front entrance was blocked by refuse.

The municipality said that municipal officials had apparently scraped the road without formal permission. “There was no permission granted and that access road was illegal. It was done without the approval of the municipality,” reads the statement from the municipality. They add that a letter of reprimand has been issued and that the accumulated refuse will be removed. “The illegal road will also be closed,” says the municipality.

The municipality also admits that municipal trucks were dumping refuse in the farm access road. Their statement reads that they did this because “the access road was blocked by normal incoming refuse since the compactor was stuck in the mud.”

The new landfill compactor was not quite one month old when it got stuck in the mud. It was purchased by the municipality at a cost of R3 million and was handed over on 4 February.

The blockage at the front entrance at this stage, with waste overflowing into the Vondeling road, had another illegal spinoff. Municipal trucks started dumping refuse on the Eskom servitude at the back of the landfill site, where high-voltage power cables run. The municipality was aware of this. It was done “without any permission from the municipality, though it was due to the blockage of the normal road,” reads the statement. The municipality states that the waste dumped under the electrical lines will be removed.

A regular user of the “illegal dumping-site road”, Mr Andries Smal, said on 28 March that the position was the same as it had been on 5 March. Waste was still lying under the electrical lines. “The waste was still lying in the [farm] road as well. A grader from the roads department came to scrape open the road at the back of the dumping site and even moved some of the waste on the road somewhat out of the way,” Smal said.

Mr Piet du Toit, who has to dump waste on a regular basis, witnessed the new compactor being pulled out of the mud a few weeks ago. “Since last week Monday, a small space has been cleared by the compactor for us to dump refuse inside the dumping site again,” Du Toit said.

The Makhado Municipality said that their main challenge at the old landfill site was the fact “the residents offload their refuse in the middle of the road, making it difficult for other residents to access their properties.” Residents had apparently followed suit when municipal trucks started to dump refuse in the road.

News - Date: 04 April 2014

Linda van der Westhuizen

Linda van der Westhuizen has been with Zoutnet since 2001. She has a heart for God, people and their stories. Linda believes that every person is unique and has a special story to tell. It follows logically that human interest stories is her speciality. Linda finds working with people and their leaders in the economic, educational, spiritual and political arena very rewarding. “I have a special interest in what God is doing in our town, province and nation and what He wants us to become,” says Linda.

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