The residents of Snake Park complain about the waste that is being dumped on the open fields and next to public areas which causes a health crisis.
Daniel Mkwanazi
By: Daniel Mkhwanazi
The issue of waste dump or pollution to the land has been one of the known environmental injustices which occur mostly in our communities and affect our ecosystem. Many may ignore this, but somehow it does severely affect health and mostly climate change. So I went on to investigate this social and environmental issue that has been raised.
One of the Residents who is affected by this issue is a lady called Fikile, a 37-year-old female who resides next to the open field near the Thulani Secondary School, Block 5. She usually complains about the residents who frequently throw waste just in front of her household, and sometimes people just come with their trash bin to offload their waste. This causes her to be triggered by the issue of people randomly coming to throw their waste, which leaves a terrible smell. Sometimes they burn up unknown waste, then they leave it behind while it burns. She said they are left with carbon dioxide, and it affects her so much in a way that sometimes she has severe, random coughs, but she is ignorant about consulting the local health facility, she said.
Another resident of Snake Park, which is also affected by this issue of waste, is Mr Mahloko. He is a 45-year-old male who has been residing in an informal settlement just at the outskirts of Block 5 for over 10 years. He has been experiencing this kind of issue, and he went on and said, “Since I have been residing here, many people just dump their trash on the outskirts just near where I reside because there is an open field right across where I built my shack, and the other neighbours. I could say that we are experiencing this due to the fact that we do not have amenities such as waste bins, and this results in some of the residents who reside around me throwing out waste in that open field. Sometimes the Waste Pickers do not pick up the trash bins, and this also causes the waste to be dumped just near where we live, and we are more concerned about our health and the environment.
As this is the problematic factor that the residents of Snake Park should speak with the Community Working People and the Pikitup company. This will ensure that they do regular cleaning around the community when they find waste and polluted areas, which causes health problems and other environmental factors, such as pollution.
