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Limpopo’s landfill sites a major source of concern

AfriForum this year audited 162 landfill sites nationwide as part of this organisation’s national project to measure the quality of landfills in South Africa.

Only one out of 15 landfill sites audited in Limpopo complied with national standards. In terms of applicable legislation and regulations, including the National Environmental Management: Waste Act 59 of 2008, all landfill sites must comply with specific requirements.

According to Magdel Jansen van Vuuren, AfriForum’s District Coordinator for Limpopo, most of the landfill sites in this province are in a poor state. “This can be attributed mainly to people living on the landfill sites and making fires there. Animal waste is regularly dumped on some of the landfills and there are no sorting networks.”

Jansen van Vuuren says that the most common problems that AfriForum identified during the audit included the absence of waste management licenses and a complete mismanagement of sites. “The focus will be on the landfill sites in the province in cooperation with the municipalities and applying pressure to get the sites up to standard. AfriForum will continuously monitor the process to ensure that the standard of these sites improve sufficiently.”

Municipal deterioration is rampant and it is noticeable that especially smaller municipalities are subject to large-scale mismanagement.

In the last two years, AfriForum has met on several occasions with Barbara Creecy, Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environmental Affairs, and her team. From the meetings it was clear that there was insufficient communication between national, provincial and local authorities. This is proof that cooperative government and traditional affairs (Cogta) and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environmental Affairs do not communicate with each other.

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