Second consecutive year that no Northern Cape landfill sites pass AfriForum’s audit

AfriForum audited 189 landfill sites nationwide to determine the current state of municipal and private landfills in South Africa and for the second consecutive year the Northern Cape again had no landfill sites that met at least 80% of the audit requirements. This province, together with the Free State, is the worst performing provinces in the country.

The annual audit determines whether landfill sites meet the necessary environmental, health and safety requirements for responsible waste management. However, the vast majority (85,8%) of landfill sites in the country failed this year’s audit. The same is true in the Northern Cape, where none of the 22 landfill sites that were audited met the minimum (80%) legal requirements for responsible waste management. Things are so bad in this province that Britstown, De Aar, Delportshoop, Douglas, Hanover, Keimoes and Strydenburg’s landfill sites did not meet any of the audit requirements. Only Orania’s landfill came close to reaching the mark (76% compliance).

This is how the landfill sites in the Northern Cape compare:

Lize-Mari van der Linden, AfriForum’s District Coordinator for the Karoo, says it’s clear that most landfill sites in the Northern Cape are in a terrible state. This can largely be attributed to the shortage of staff and basic infrastructure at landfill sites.

“There are serious shortcomings regarding municipalities systems for waste management and the personnel responsible for these systems. Moreover, no money is spent on these landfill sites, although there is a budget for it. Smaller municipalities especially suffer from mismanagement in this area. However, it appears that no real steps are being taken to address the shortcomings,” says Van der Linden.

AfriForum is already planning a meeting with Dr. Dion George, Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DBFO), to share the landfill audit report’s findings with him and request a formal investigation into the Northern Cape’s non-compliant municipalities. AfriForum is of the opinion that South Africans’ constitutional rights, such as the right to a clean and healthy environment, are being denied by the poor management of landfill sites, therefore the DBVO will urgently have to call municipalities to account.