“This is solely the illegal actions by the people driving the trucks and was never an instruction by management.”

This was the response by the Makhado Municipality when asked why municipal trucks, from their electrical department, were spotted illegally dumping garden refuse along the municipal airstrip road.

On 11 April, a resident was driving down this stretch of road when he spotted two municipal trucks dumping what looked like garden refuse. This immediately left him irate, because for years now he has also had a battle with people illegally dumping refuse along the Vivo road on top of Otto’s Hoogte. The resident confronted the truck drivers and was somewhat surprised at their response.

Apparently, the truck drivers told him, they formed part of the tree cutting teams operating in Munnik and Anderson Street, cutting away brush and trees from the electrical power lines. Not being able to enter the municipal dumping site along the Vondeling Road, because it is too muddy, they opted to just dump their loads along this stretch of road. When asked whether they would come and remove the refuse later, the answer was an abrupt “No, we’ll let it dry and then just set it alight!” The real reason why they dumped the wood there, however, soon became clear to the resident – it was a good source of firewood for the residents of the neighbouring Tshikota township.

Over the past couple of years, the Zoutpansberger has done a number of articles about people illegally dumping garden refuse and even household refuse in areas not designated for dumping purposes. Needless to say, no effort is apparently being made to curb this unsightly and unhealthy practice and the fact that municipal vehicles are following suit makes for an extremely bad example. All across town, vacant land and river flows have become dumping sites. A good example of this can be seen on the dam wall between Ruh Street and the land stretching in the direction of the N1.

But at least this practice is still regarded as unacceptable by the Makhado Municipality, although there is no visible law enforcement in this regard.

“It is regrettable that this has happened. Under no circumstances was there ever an instruction to dump at the Tshikota road. We do agree that there was a problem at the dumping site on that day, but that did not mean that the cleared vegetation could have been dumped at Tshikota and later buried away,” said Mr Louis Bobodi, municipal spokesperson, in his response. The firewood excuse also seems to be true. “Seemingly it was to help the Tshikota people in getting some firewood as some people requested this during clearing operations on site,” Bobodi said. He said that the matter would be investigated and steps taken to prevent future occurrences.