The Democratic Alliance (DA) has filed a complaint with the Environmental Management Inspectorate (Green Scorpions) today against the Lephalale local municipality for failing to collect refuse from Mahlakung informal housing settlement.
The village is surrounded by refuse. It is so bad that it seems as if Mahlakung is in the middle of a landfill site. (See photo here)
The DA has reported this environmental hazard to the Community Services Department to no avail.
On Saturday, the DA cleaned a part of the village to enable children to play in an unpolluted area. (See photos here and here).
Residents of Mahlakung complain that the refuse skips are not emptied regularly and that the refuse truck does not even come once a month to collect rubbish.
To exacerbate this matter, Mahlakung is situated next to the Ellisras provincial hospital, and the management has also complained numerous times, not only about the stench, but the piled-up rubbish.
The DA will not tolerate negligence of the municipality which leads not only to pollution, but has now created a landfill site around residents’ homes.
It is unacceptable that the dignity of the residents of Mahlakung has been compromised and the DA is committed to ensuring that the environment is protected and section 24 of the Constitution, which guarantees that every individual enjoys the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health and well-being is upheld.
We hope that the Green Scorpions will attend to this matter urgently as we cannot continue to put the health and safety of our residents at risk.