Only one landfill in Limpopo passes AfriForum’s audit
AfriForum audited 189 landfill sites nationwide to determine the current state of municipal and private landfills in South Africa. The annual audit determines whether landfill sites meet the necessary environmental, health and safety requirements for responsible waste management. However, the vast majority (85,8%) of landfill sites failed this year’s audit. Considering this, the situation in Limpopo looks even worse than the rest of the country.
To pass the audit, a landfill site must have met at least 80% of the audit requirements. However, only one of the 14 landfill sites that were audited in Limpopo met the minimum legal requirements for responsible waste management. This is a decline from last year when two landfill sites (out of 14) passed the audit. The one landfill site that did pass this year is located in Tzaneen and met 88% of the audit requirements. The landfill site in Groblersdal (74% compliance) and Musina (78% compliance) almost reached the mark, while the landfill site in Ellisras, which performed well last year (82% compliance), had its standards deteriorate this year (42% compliance).
This is how the landfill sites in Limpopo compare:
According to Hendrik Kotze, AfriForum’s Provincial Coordinator for Limpopo, it’s clear that most landfill sites in the province are in a terrible state. “A common problem that AfriForum’s branches in Limpopo noticed during this audit is that there are little to no resources available to manage waste sites efficiently. The only successful landfill site is managed by a private contractor. This is a major cause of concern as the municipal officials involved are not being held to account by the provincial or national government.”
The situation at these landfill sites can be attributed to the municipalities’ serious shortcomings regarding their systems for waste management and the personnel responsible for these systems. Smaller municipalities especially suffer from mismanagement in this area. However, it appears that no real steps are being taken to address the shortcomings.
AfriForum is already planning a meeting with Dr. Dion George, Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DBFO), to share the landfill audit report’s findings with him and request a formal investigation against Limpopo’s non-compliant municipalities. AfriForum is of the opinion that South Africans’ constitutional rights, such as the right to a clean and healthy environment, are being denied by the poor management of landfill sites, therefore the DBVO will urgently have to call municipalities to account.
