Ward Councillor Shontel de Boer with
the rubbish bags illegally dumped on
Mackeurtan Avenue
An unknown individual has been illegally dumping rubbish onto the centre of Mackeurtan Avenue, eluding concerned parties and residents for over a year.
According to Ward 36 Councillor Shontel de Boer, the site of the dumping is always in the same spot every week, in the centre island of the street, the very next day after refuse collection. “We have been having this ongoing problem for quite a while and it’s usually the same part of the street. The refuse is collected every Thursday and we are unsure if the culprit is dumping it in the evening or in the early hours of the morning,” said Cllr de Boer. “It will stay there for the whole week until the next pick-up day. In the meantime the monkeys go in there and the refuse is strewn all over the place and it just makes the area look terrible,” she added.
In a letter drafted to residents, Cllr de Boer highlighted the issue with a plea for the culprit to stop, however, the matter still continues to this day. “DSW has gone through the bags and found nothing as evidence, usually you would find letters etc but it’s just litter,” added Cllr de Boer. Concerned resident of Mackeurtan Avenue, Des Dawson, also weighed in on the matter, stating that it’s almost as if the culprit is playing a game of cat and mouse with DSW. “DSW, the ward councillor and I have been trying to stop this polluter and done possibly all we can do to catch this person and we have all failed. I have said it before this is not a problem caused by DSW, it’s a resident or tenant problem that has to be solved.” “I am trying my level best to try and influence the Durban North community to wake up and take notice of their suburb. I can’t see any issue that is more important than the systematic deterioration of a suburb which has always maintained high standards,” said Dawson, who has emailed several officials at DSW, however, their combined efforts were in vain. “They have knocked on doors and handed out notices, nothing works and the dumper always seems to dump after DSW has picked up all of Mackeurtan’s rubbish bags. I do believe there are a number of homes, which have quite a few tenants. I believe it’sa tenant who is dumping and not the homeowner who obviously does not stay at that home. I reckon the dumper lives in proximity to where he/she dumps,” explained Dawson.
