The residents of Durban North say they have reached boiling point with the ongoing illegal dumping and disregard of municipal infrastructure that has become a health hazard and environmental concern for the community.
The comes after two restaurant employees were allegedly caught in the act, while allegedly dumping used oil down a stormwater drain and washing oily cooking utensils on uMhlanga Rocks Drive. According to Ward 36 Councillor Shontel de Boer, investigations are currently underway on what seems to be a regular transgression by the offending establishment.
“It looks like they do it everyday. I took a drive and saw for myself. There was soiled steel wool near the drain. The drain itself had a lot of grease and grime. We will not tolerate these practises in the Durban North community. Already the area is looking untidy and these sort of practises are making the problem worse. It’s dirty, unsightly and we will not have such a blatant show of irresponsibility,” Cllr de Boer said.
Durban North resident and chairperson of the Wildlife and Environment Society South Africa KZN, Margaret Burger, said that her work at the uMngeni Estuary shows that there is little respect for the environment or the municipality that must clean-up after residents who dump illegally.
She said: “Obviously this is a double-edged sword. These are all wicked problems and the more we consume the more waste we have. Durban’s Cleansing Waste services don’t make it any easier but I do understand that their economic system operates in silos and that budgets aren’t shared across departments. The fact that the new landfill site is in Buffelsdraai near Verulam doesn’t help to assist those who want to be compliant. The Bisasar landfill site near Makro Springfield is full. Perhaps the answer is to have waste-pickers elevated and acknowledged as members of society who need to be more valued. I do think there are some members who value them but generally the hard work that they do is not acknowledged as a benefit to social ecological contributions.”
Passionate environmentalist and member of the Multi Stakeholders Forum that is currently monitoring the UPL process, Francine Hattingh, said that the issue lies with enforcement. “Its not like there’s officials going around and making sure individuals are following the laws and regulations. Of course matters are taken to court but the fact of the matter is that the incident has already happened at that stage. I think that people take a chance because there are insufficient and inadequate recourses to actually enforce laws.”
Ashleigh Rosenbaun, of the community initiative ‘The Heart of Durban North’ that exist to uplift small business and raise the standard of living in the area along with Envirofixer Carri Lambert urges members of the community to be conscious of their environment. “Though there are several people who do go the extra mile, we all need to have to be proud of our neighborhood and community. Even if one does a little, it can create a rippling effect on the rest of us,” said Lambert.
EThekwini Municipality Spokesperson, Msawakhe Mayisela, said the eThekwini Municipality has condemned such acts stating that the City is on record of urging owners of restaurants and hotels to guard against disposing of used oil into drainage system, as this irresponsible conduct is a recipe for the system to clog. He said: “We would like the public in the event that they do see incidents of this nature, to provide proof and send them to our social media platforms, and the City will respond expeditiously.”
