No refuse should be buried in areas not designated as landfill areas.

This was the Makhado Municipality's response after more complaints were received that the municipality is continuing to bury refuse in the open area between Eltivillas and the N1. The issue was pushed to the fore a couple of weeks ago when a municipal tractor operator capsized the municipality’s back-actor in an effort to bury refuse in a ditch in the open area in front of Surat. Following the incident, the municipality said that the practice of burying refuse in the area was prohibited and that they would investigate the matter. To date, no feedback with regard to the outcome of the investigation was received and it would seem that the illegal practice is being allowed to continue.

On Friday, November 4, the manager of the Soutpansberg Ratepayers Association, Ms Aretha Smith, once again spotted a back-actor scraping the area to bury the waste lying around. Municipal officials and a municipal vehicle could be observed nearby. “I was appalled to see that municipal officials are actively involved in using an open space near the N1 as a landfill site,” said Smith.

It would now seem that the municipality is trying to blame the machine operator’s illegal behaviour on the actions of the public. Apparently, it is the same operator who capsized the back-actor.

“There are two mass refuse containers placed there for disposal of refuse generated by businesses around the area. It is unfortunate that other people are taking advantage of disposing refuse there instead of going to the landfill site. This practise makes those two containers always full, especially between sunset and early morning,” stated Mr Elias Mugari, the municipality’s director of community services. The municipality added that the “supervisor was instructed not to bury refuse there as we are not authorised to make the area a landfill.”

The problem now comes in when members of the public set fire to the mass containers. Mugari said that it was impossible for the tractor to either collect a burning refuse container or transport the ashes of the burnt refuse because a truck with a sealed loading area is needed.

“As the waste management section does not have its own tipper trucks, [and] due to the pressure from the nearby public, it happened that burnt refuse was buried there without permission from the department,” Mugari explained. Whether this practice of burying refuse in an undesignated area will continue, remains unclear.