Residents in Du Noon’s West Beach informal settlement are up in arms over a mounting pile of garbage in their area which they say a city-contracted company is refusing to remove.West Beach residents say people from surrounding communities dump a wide variety of rubbish in and around a shipping container which serves as a refuse storage bin, and city contractor Indu Staff Solutions only removes household rubbish, leaving the rest behind.
Residents say as a result there is a mounting pile of junk, including faeces and animal carcasses, causing a stink and attracting rats and other vermin.
Community leader Mnzwalane Caji said the rat plague was so bad that they came into people’s homes and often bit sleeping children.
Caji said residents were collecting money so that they could hire a truck to pull the container into the road as they believed blocking the road was the only way they would be certain of getting the city’s attention and forcing them to act.
“We don’t want this container. We don’t want to see it at all. Rats get inside our shacks and nibble on our children while they’re sleeping,” said resident Thuliswa Mnguni, who is mother to a two-year-old child.
Mnguni said on several occasions she had found her son playing with friends in the midst of the trash and she was worried the children would contract a disease.
Father of a one year old child Mncedisi Mkhohlwe, 28, said dogs and other animals that were killed by cars, and sheep heads, bones and skin discarded by hawkers who sold meat or ran braai stands, were also dumped into the container.
Du Noon area manager for Indu Staff Solutions, Andile Mbeshu, said residents had complained about the accumulating trash but it was not Indu Staff’s responsibility to remove illegally dumped material.
He said Indu Staff solutions was responsible for removing household rubbish and what the residents were moaning about was illegal dumping, which was a common occurrence in Du Noon.
“It’s not our job to remove illegal dumping,” said Mbeshu, “we remove normal house-hold refuse but they are dumping tv’s and chairs. That’s not part of our job.”
Blaauwberg sub-council chairperson Heather Brenner while said there was an excessive amount of “waste of “all types” being dumped across the metro but the city was constrained by its budget.
“The city has been trying to deal with the backlog (of illegally dumped refuse) within the constraints of its budget,” said Brenner.
She said the city’s solid waste department was aware of the problem in Du Noon, as Indu Staff were contracted to remove household rubbish in black plastic bags that were dumped in the refuse container.
“The residual dumped refuge is collected from time to time when required,” she said.
She said the situation in Du Noon would be addressed as soon as the city could catch up with its backlog.
— West Cape News
Residents say as a result there is a mounting pile of junk, including faeces and animal carcasses, causing a stink and attracting rats and other vermin.
Community leader Mnzwalane Caji said the rat plague was so bad that they came into people’s homes and often bit sleeping children.
Caji said residents were collecting money so that they could hire a truck to pull the container into the road as they believed blocking the road was the only way they would be certain of getting the city’s attention and forcing them to act.
“We don’t want this container. We don’t want to see it at all. Rats get inside our shacks and nibble on our children while they’re sleeping,” said resident Thuliswa Mnguni, who is mother to a two-year-old child.
Mnguni said on several occasions she had found her son playing with friends in the midst of the trash and she was worried the children would contract a disease.
Father of a one year old child Mncedisi Mkhohlwe, 28, said dogs and other animals that were killed by cars, and sheep heads, bones and skin discarded by hawkers who sold meat or ran braai stands, were also dumped into the container.
Du Noon area manager for Indu Staff Solutions, Andile Mbeshu, said residents had complained about the accumulating trash but it was not Indu Staff’s responsibility to remove illegally dumped material.
He said Indu Staff solutions was responsible for removing household rubbish and what the residents were moaning about was illegal dumping, which was a common occurrence in Du Noon.
“It’s not our job to remove illegal dumping,” said Mbeshu, “we remove normal house-hold refuse but they are dumping tv’s and chairs. That’s not part of our job.”
Blaauwberg sub-council chairperson Heather Brenner while said there was an excessive amount of “waste of “all types” being dumped across the metro but the city was constrained by its budget.
“The city has been trying to deal with the backlog (of illegally dumped refuse) within the constraints of its budget,” said Brenner.
She said the city’s solid waste department was aware of the problem in Du Noon, as Indu Staff were contracted to remove household rubbish in black plastic bags that were dumped in the refuse container.
“The residual dumped refuge is collected from time to time when required,” she said.
She said the situation in Du Noon would be addressed as soon as the city could catch up with its backlog.
— West Cape News
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