Ikemeleng waste dumpsite observation

Community Alerts/Olebogeng Motene/Rustenburg/11/09/2018

 

Saturday 8th September
14:30 pm
Pigs and goats show up at hot spot 2. I counted 8 pigs and 11 goats. As the sun gets hotter and the wind blows more the smell is too much to bear. And Buti lives few meters from this dump so there is no escaping the smell for him and his neighbors.

There is some mud where pigs play to cool off. Both the pigs and goats search the waste for vegetables and fruit waste but it’s mostly papers, plastic, synthetic hair, bottles, tins, diapers, and other household waste. There is grass due water from the tailing and this leaves the place with some greens they graze.

16:50 pm
As Buti and Steven walk me to the bus stop we come across a Chicane skip which barely has any waste in and located far from the residents. We informally ask the people who live nearby why they burn their waste instead of using the skip, and the lady responded by “they never collect the skip and our children play and eat the rubbish so I normally burn my waste to also avoid the bad smell”. We took pictures of the inside of the skip and just a few wastes and most disposed next to it.

Monday 10th September
13:30 pm
I arrived in Ikemeleng informal settlement to meet up with Buti. Was a windy dry day, dust from the tailings nearby, I noticed that my throat was dry and my eyes itchy. With all the dust dryness the stench of the dumpsite below the bridge I got off on to walk to Buti’s house is unbearable. There are no animals at this time and kids are still in school.

15:20-1640pm
Pigs and goats show up, feasting on waste and pigs cooling off on the mad. I took no record of kids on this day.

Tuesday 11 September
14:00pm
I arrived in Ikemeleng around  13:50 pm came across a lady with a young girl who I assume to be her daughter young enough to be in school this time of the day. They were both collecting plastic bottles. The lady informed me that they collect and when they have a load she hires a car to go weigh them in town for money.
(No close range pic, she didn’t want her picture taken)

15:37 pm
Children from different schools make their way home and as I take a walk to the restroom I notice smoke coming from the dumpsite and two boys playing around the dumpsite while waste is burning. They told me that they looking for tins to use for their homemade car toys, both barefoot, there are also goats and pigs around the area.

16:31 pm.
I counted 35 goats and 3 piglets by the dumpsite as I was going back home
By Olebogeng Motene