It is unsafe for any member of the public to go to the municipal dump, according to a source who knows the site well. This follows the stabbing last weekend of a resident who went there to dispose of waste.
It is unsafe for any member of the public to go to the municipal dump, according to a source who knows the site well. This follows the stabbing last weekend of a resident who went there to dispose of waste.
Makana Municipality is working with the police and other stakeholders to ensure that only legally permitted individuals will be allowed on the dump site, according to Social Services Director Mandisi Planga.
William Tribe described this week how a trip to the dump with two other staff members from his workplace nearly cost him his life.
The bakkie Tribe was driving last Saturday morning has a tailgate that needs to be manually chained to secure it, Tribe said.
When he and two staff members from the workshop where he’s based arrived at the dump, they lowered the tailgate to removed the waste.
“Immediately one of the guys there jumped on to the back, in the process smashing the tailgate down on to the tailbar.”
Tribe asked the man to accompany them to the police station so they could make a statement for his insurance company.
“I wanted to do it the right way. Initially he agreed,” Tribe said. “Even the other pickers there encouraged him to just go with me to settle things with the police,.”
They were about to leave after offloading, when out of the blue – “some guy who had been at the other end of the dump” arrived and pushed Tribe from the back.
“I told him to leave because the incident had nothing to do with him,” Tribe said.
“But I could see he was being aggressive.”
Tribe believes there are rival gangs operating at the dump and sensing the mood, feared for the safety of his staff and himself.
“I told my staff to get in, and climbed into the driver’s seat.”
The next thing he knew, he had been stabbed in the arm.
“As I turned, he stabbed me in the back too.”
As Tribe pulled off, bleeding, his attacker was still chasing him along with others and he was dismayed to find the gate to the dump closed.
“I drove up and over the concrete slab to get out of there,” he said.
Still coughing this week, Tribe said he had been diagnosed as having a punctured lung as a result of being stabbed. He has impaired movement in three of his fingers and is having sleepless nights at the memory.
“I used to go there once or twice a month,” Tribe said. “But you won’t catch me there again.
“They feel nothing for taking a person’s life – and I don’t know why they even have security there because no one came to help. If it wasn’t for my staff being there, I don’t know what would have happened.
“It seems there are whole gangs moving in and out of there and they all want to show who is in charge. It was a bit like that before,. But now it’s getting worse.
“I strongly feel the municipality has lost control of the situation.”
A source who asked not to be identified for their safety, said there are up to 10 people living at the site at any given time and that it is their presence that makes the landfill site unsafe.
Grocott’s Mail recently visited the site and found the brick building on the site furnished as rough living quarters.
“The security guards at the municipal dump are ineffective and anyone goes in and out of the area at will,” the source , who regularly visits the site, told Grocott’s Mail.
Director of social services Mandisi Planga said Makana Municipality had learnt with dismay about the incident.
“We condemn the act with the contempt it deserves,” Planga said. “It has been reported that the perpetrator has been apprehended and we hope the law will take its course.”
Planga assured residents that the municipality was working with the police and other stakeholders to ensure that only legally permitted individuals would be allowed on the dumpsite.
“We are working towards improving access control,” Planga said.
“We are doing everything within our limited resources to ensure that we comply with the permit to operate the dump site.
“We are also working towards the realisation of the waste to energy project which we hope will eliminate the problems we are experiencing at the dumpsite.”
No comment or reply to questions had been received from the South African Police Service by the time of going to press.
