The residents of Mokgatho Street, Port Elizabeth in South Africa, had been suffering from a serious air pollution from the heap of waste at Motherwell, NU 10, which has not been collected since December last year.
Recently, the waste was removed by a waste disposal team under the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. This lasted for about five days.
The residents of Mokgatho Street were all filled with joy and expressed their gratitude to the team that has granted them the opportunity to breathe fresh air again after six months.
Meanwhile, this incident was as a result of a story reported by GroundUp news site about the deteriorating condition of the dump and how the residents of Mokgatho Street find it hard to cope.
Mayor Athol Trollip, on hearing the news promised that the waste will be removed and he kept to his words.
In response to the news, Mayor Athol Trollip said, “Waste disposal teams have been dispatched to begin clearing the site. All waste will be removed within the next 48-72 hours.”
One of the resident, Buyelwa Tetani, said, “I hope the municipality will always be coming to inspect this place. I am tired of shouting at people who dump their garbage here.”
Kristoff Adelbert, Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Chief of Staff, told Groundup last week that the municipality was unaware of the illegal dumping site. “It is also true that no one, not even the ward councilor reported this to the officials.”
