KwaZulu-Natal Midlands environmentalist and resident Judy Bell has asked the department of water & sanitation to prosecute the municipality in terms of the national legislation.
“This landfill is overfull. It is built on a floodplain of the Msunduzi River, which flows into Inanda Dam, Durban's drinking water supply. This is not the first fire. It regularly burns, especially in summer due to the dumping of flammable substances in contravention of licence requirements. The landfill gas is not extracted, neither is the waste covered and compacted daily.
“These are measures taken to reduce the risk of fire. Not in Pietermaritzburg. The municipality has been lurching from crisis to crisis, having been in administration before, twice already, but still no change. The city has collapsed. There is no money for services or any maintenance. Yet officials are paid in full and stay home, but not working.”
She said the firefighting water from the landfill was flowing directly into Msunduzi River.
“The pollution into Baynespruit is upstream of that. Double whammy. Remember Willowton Oil's whoopsy into the Baynespruit and then the landfill fire and fire water into Duzi shortly after? Imagine being asthmatic or lying in Northdale Hospital with Covid-19? They're using our lungs and kidneys to filter the pollution,” Bell said.
© TimesLIVE
N3 freeway closed as smoke from PMB landfill fire still hangs in the air
Image: KZN EMS
The N3 outside Pietermaritzburg was forced to close during peak hour traffic on Friday morning because of thick smoke from the city's landfill site that has been on fire since Tuesday.
Motorists were redirected as traffic built up and visibility decreased.
By 9am the road was reopened, however there was still a backlog of traffic.
The Msunduzi Municipality said the fire that had blazed at a landfill site in Hayfields since Tuesday was “under control”, however residents were outraged as the impact lingered in the air.
Msunduzi municipal spokesperson Thobeka Mafumbatha told TimesLIVE on Friday that due to the fog from the Msunduzi river, the neighbouring areas were covered with smoke.
“We are still putting out pockets of fire that are left but everything is under control.”
KwaZulu-Natal Midlands environmentalist and resident Judy Bell has asked the department of water & sanitation to prosecute the municipality in terms of the national legislation.
“This landfill is overfull. It is built on a floodplain of the Msunduzi River, which flows into Inanda Dam, Durban's drinking water supply. This is not the first fire. It regularly burns, especially in summer due to the dumping of flammable substances in contravention of licence requirements. The landfill gas is not extracted, neither is the waste covered and compacted daily.
“These are measures taken to reduce the risk of fire. Not in Pietermaritzburg. The municipality has been lurching from crisis to crisis, having been in administration before, twice already, but still no change. The city has collapsed. There is no money for services or any maintenance. Yet officials are paid in full and stay home, but not working.”
She said the firefighting water from the landfill was flowing directly into Msunduzi River.
“The pollution into Baynespruit is upstream of that. Double whammy. Remember Willowton Oil's whoopsy into the Baynespruit and then the landfill fire and fire water into Duzi shortly after? Imagine being asthmatic or lying in Northdale Hospital with Covid-19? They're using our lungs and kidneys to filter the pollution,” Bell said.
© TimesLIVE
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