eThekwini Municipality councillors allege illegal dumping contributed to uMhlanga beach closures
Durban - eThekwini Municipality councillors have suggested that illegal dumping was partly to blame for the failure of sewer pumps in the uMhlanga area which led to the closure of two beaches recently.
Speaking during the Executive Committee meeting on Tuesday, mayor Mxolisi Kaunda and ANC councillor Thembo Ntuli said it was necessary to educate communities to refrain from dumping waste in the sewer infrastructure, which in turn damages infrastructure.
“It’s important that we educate our communities about illegal dumping. Very often our infrastructure is damaged and blocked, and when our officials are sent to check what is the problem, they find things in the system that they do not expect to find there.
“There have been instances where the officials have found things like Pampers (nappies) in the system. It seems like there is someone who is deliberately sabotaging infrastructure so that there are continuous negative things said about this municipality,” said Ntuli.
Ntuli directly implied that part of the blockade in uMhlanga was because of this dumping.
“If this (blocking, leading to infrastructure failure) had happened in deep deep rural areas, I would have accepted that and said our people do not understand (the implications of their dumping) but I do not expect something like this to happen in an area like that (uMhlanga), not in that area,” he said.
Kaunda also warned that it seemed businesses are part of this bad behaviour of illegal dumping.
“We should educate people about the illegal dumping but we should also impose fines on the businesses that dump in our infrastructure. With businesses it is easy to identify that it is this business that has been dumping,” he said.
UMhlanga Main and Bronze beaches were reopened by the city on Tuesday after the affected sewerage system was unclogged and tests showed improvement in the water quality.