Tailing Dust Continues To Affect The Snake Park Community

Daniel Mkhwanazi

The residents of Snake Park still face the toxic pollutants of tailing dust during the windy season of August yet it continues to be a big problem for most residents.

On 23 August 2024, the community woke up to a very windy yet dusty morning and some were even wearing dust goggles and face masks due to this dust that had been blowing up down to the residency of Snake Park.

A 34-year-old male who goes by the name of Sipho said he had to wake up early in the morning to do a very squeaky cleaning in his shack due to that the dust had been all over inside his shack. Even though he had to do so he went on to complain about the tailing dust that is making things worse since it is a windy season, we intend to have a much worse experience of dust, he said.

We know that the tailing dust has been affecting the community ever since as to that we are near the tailing but we fear that we might get very sick due to this tailing dust because somehow it is very windy some days, he also added that he has sinus problem that has been bothering him for a while so he fears it could be worse for him and other residents who have chronic conditions.

Another individual named Thokozile said it is very sad to see and witness such because somehow she has asthma so it is very much worse for her condition and she sometimes gets sick due to this dust.

The community members have it bad concerning the issue of tailing dust because some have the worst-case scenario of tailing dust and it is not only that some individuals got sick due to the dust.

The issue of tailing dust has been affecting the community members of Snake Park very badly but it needs to be tackled and at least well-managed so that people do not continue to have chronic illnesses.