It’s been close to a month since residents of Kenneth Gardens in Umbilo held a meeting regarding illegal dumping below 52nd Durban Sea Scouts Hall on Ray Kete Road. The Scouts Hall that is used as a church has now become a haven for flies and rats as a result of the piling garbage which has not been attended to.
Kenneth Gardens residents said cars come and offload their garbage daily and this was reported to the ward councillor in December 2021, who promised to report the matter to Durban Solid Waste, however, to date these efforts have not been fruitful. This has resulted in a very bad stench, cockroaches, rats and flies forcing the residents to keep their windows and doors closed at all times. Some have even made fly catchers. At the meeting held by a few residents in December, Neil Fynn, a resident and church member said Durban Solid Waste did come to clean not so long ago and now the rubbish is starting to pile up again. Fynn said: “What needs to be done to stop the dumping is putting up a fence. Putting up a fence will really help as starting a garden would not stop the dumpers.”
Community activist and member of the Active Citizens Coalition, Karin Dreyer, said her efforts in getting the councillor’s attention have not been successful, however, she recently spoke to him and they agreed that a list of all the issues in the area is compiled and sent to him. Dreyer said it’s about time the municipality enforces laws. She said that the Department of Health was contacted previously and a reference number was given to show that the matter has been reported. “This is now affecting the health of the residents. I live up the hill from here and still get the flies and the stench. If it’s a matter of funding and the municipality cannot fence this place they should rather move the fence that is already there forward and leave no space for dumping as well as erect ‘No Dumping’ signs,” said Dreyer.
She appealed to DSW to clean the place up urgently as the last time they came to clean was in September 2021.Ward 33 Councillor, Sakhile Mngadi, said this is a widespread issue and a lot of people come into the area and dump and many residents are also not following the procedures of disposal. “Some of the residents have excess waste during the week, leaving it outside early and then vagrants come in and mess up the waste. When DSW comes they do not pick up waste that is just lying there as litter. “Thereafter, we find that the ward and the state of cleanliness are deteriorating because of those reasons. I would like to implore residents to please ensure that they leave their rubbish out at least an hour before the rubbish truck comes and it’s normally punctual and picks up on their streets, they need to know the schedule of the truck and if there is no pick-up that they take in their garbage and contact me as the councillor so that I can liaise with DSW and arrange it to be taken out,” said Cllr Mngadi.
He said the residents should avoid dumping things out on the pavement which DSW does not necessarily pick up. “If they have garden refuse they should look at the times the garden refuse truck comes to collect and ensure that it’s out there at the correct time. These are the small things that we can do as a community to ensure that our ward is in a state that we can be proud of,” he added. He encouraged residents to report illegal dumping by contacting him or the authorities so that they can find these people and hurt them where it hurts the most – their pockets. “There are a number of strategies that I am trying to implement like the new one called RAID, which stands for ‘Residents Against Illegal Dumping’ and hopefully when that project is up and running we will have a vast network throughout the ward of individuals who will report people who are illegally dumping in our ward and those people will feel the full brunt and might of the law. That is something I am working on implementing across the board,” Cllr Mngadi concluded.
