AfriForum audits landfills in the Eastern Cape

The civil rights organisation AfriForum audited 161 landfills nationwide this year as part of their national project to determine the condition of landfills in South Africa.

Only two out of seven landfills audited in the Eastern Cape met the national standards. In terms of applicable legislation and regulations, including the National Environmental Management: Waste Act 59 of 2008, all landfills must meet specific requirements.

This is how the landfills in Eastern Cape compare:

According to Wikus van der Walt, AfriForum’s District Coordinator for the Eastern Cape, most landfills in the Eastern Cape are in terrible condition, mainly due to poor management.

“The most common problem that AfriForum’s branches in the Eastern Cape noticed during the audit is that no maintenance is done and no earth moving equipment is available to cover the garbage. Furthermore, there is no access control, which means the kind of garbage that enters is not monitored. It is a major concern as the municipal officials of the Eastern Cape are not held accountable. Municipal decay is the order of the day, and smaller municipalities suffer from large-scale mismanagement,” says Van der Walt.

The situation can be attributed to the fact that the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment (DFFE) is controlled by three different spheres of government. The national department only has the power to establish laws, policies, norms, and standards at a national level, but they have no power at a provincial or municipal level. The province reports to the provincial MEC, not to the minister. The lack of communication between Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) and the DFFE causes another challenge.

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