AfriForum audits landfill sites in Highveld

The AfriForum branches in the Mpumalanga Highveld recently audited nine landfill sites as part of the civil rights organisation’s landfill site audit campaign. Altogether 17 landfill sites across the whole of Mpumalanga were visited.

With this project, AfriForum branches evaluate landfill sites to ascertain if municipalities are up to standard in this regard. According to applicable legislation and regulations, among other the National Environmental Management: Waste Act (Act No 59 of 2008) a landfill site must comply with certain requirements, including factors such as access control, illegal dumping, fire regulations, fencing and rehabilitation. A landfill site should obtain at least 80% to comply with legislation. However, none of the landfill sites in the Mpumalanga Highveld passed the audit.

“It is shocking to see that municipal managements fail in their duties to such an extent. Many sites do not even comply with basic requirements. Some have no fencing or lack machinery to compact waste, for example. On certain sites, we noticed people who were sifting through garbage for recycling purposes. This is very unsafe as they were not wearing protective clothing. Some of the sites that AfriForum visited were supposed to have been closed according to municipal managements, yet we noticed that these are still operational and do not display any signs to indicate that these sites have actually been closed down,” says Hennie Bekker, AfriForum’s District Coordinator for Mpumalanga.

Audit results for Highveld landfill sites:

After releasing the results, AfriForum will meet with municipal managements to discuss possible solutions.

Become involved today by sending an SMS with “Oudit” to 45350 (R1).