A fight for survival. That’s the daily struggle for more than 100 Buffalo City Metro residents who live on a Berlin dumpsite, outside East London.
Most of these “waste collectors” are youth – part of the country’s 26.7% unemployed – who sometimes come across dead foetuses and animal carcasses.
The dumpsite poses a serious health hazard for the “waste collectors” of course.
When rummaging through tons of rubbish of the metro’s 755200 residents for items of food – or value – they sometimes come across dead foetuses – and even animal carcasses.
But despite the accompanying stench, it’s the only way they can eke out a living.
“Territorial wars” that on a daily basis develop into running battles at the site are only making matters worse.
Grade 8 school dropout, Xolisa “Mkick Off” Ngudla, 21, said the tip was a source of livelihood for many families.
“There are over 100 people living here. I left my grandfather and three siblings at home to come and fend for myself.
“No one works at home and I was not going to just sit there and depend on other people.
“I provide for my own needs and I do not bother anyone. I am not robbing or breaking into people’s houses, we are making an honest living by the work we do here,” he told the Saturday Dispatch team that visited the dumpsite recently.
Ngudla visits his NU8 home on weekends.
“It makes sense for me to stay here while I collect material that I can sell. I keep it in my shack at the site until I have enough waste material to sell,” he said.
A 19-year-old man who identified himself as “Msira”, said however the tip was dangerous and run by a “community” of vicious people ever since he set foot there eight years ago.
“I started coming here at a young age. My mother also collects here so I learnt most things from her. People get hurt and sick from the dust and garbage we work with. Fights are common.
“The guys from Parkside and Ziphunzane think they rule this place,” he said.
“Each area is [supposedly] governed by certain rules but everyone wants to be ‘the boss’ and that is when the conflict starts.
“I wish I can get a job and not have to come here. It is not safe. This is a tip and no one deserves to live life in such a place.”
Collecting waste turned out to be “quite profitable” for Thando Jomo, 22, who arrived at the tip also eight years ago.
“I dropped out in Grade 7 and my family was struggling financially so I decided to work at this tip.”
Retrieving scraps of metal seem to be the most sought-after here. “The amount we make varies each day, sometimes you can be lucky and make R200 a day or in some days you walk away with just R20,” Jomo said.
He helps support his younger sister’s two children with the money he makes..
A 55-year-old father of four who did not want to be named, claimed that the younger people always started the conflict.
“After I came back from Cape Town I found out that my children had sold our family home and I had nowhere to stay.
“Like any other community there are moments when people fight. People argue about scrap that they have collected. There are a lot of young people here and they are the ones who usually cause trouble, because some of them drink and smoke glue and drugs and misbehave after that.”
While the majority of waste collectors wear gloves and face masks, they are still vulnerable to illnesses. As a result, Msira said they always fell ill and suffered from headaches, diarrhoea and chest pains.
Though the “waste collectors” were willing to show the Dispatch team their small and clearly unsafe shacks they called home, a security guard barred the team from gaining access to them. — bhongoj@tisoblackstar.co.za..