An elderly Lentegeur woman is fuming about illegal dumping on a field next to her house.
Dolina Jefferies, 75, witnesses daily how people dump on the field in Merrydale Avenue, next to the Eulalie Scott Educare in Sunflower Street, which is almost on her doorstep.
“My neighbours and I are elderly people and to experience all this is not a pretty sight. There are people coming from surrounding streets and dumping their dirt onto the field in front of our houses. This is not right.”
Taxi drivers and motorists use the field to park even though there is a parking lot at a nearby shopping centre.
Ms Jefferies said she did not know who the field belonged to in order to report the activities there.
Ms Jefferies said that on Wednesday January 15 two trucks belonging to fibre installers started dumping rubble at the field and she and her neighbours had been in time to stop them.
Some days, Ms Jefferies picks up the garbage herself, to keep the area clean.
Ward 76 councillor Goawa Timm, whose ward includes Lentegeur and Ikwezi Park, said she was unaware of Ms Jefferies and her neighbours’ complaints
“I am also concerned about the common issue of dumping in our community in our open spaces. We have a free drop-off recycling site in the Rocklands/Strandfontein area, off Spine Road.
“Parks should be a safe haven for children, but due to continuous dumping, children cannot play because of the stench and rubble. We, as a community need to take ownership of our areas to keep them safe and healthy as much as we possibly can,” she said.
The City of Cape Town’s cleansing branch deals with illegal dumping, street sweeping, uncollected refuse, overflowing street litter bins, litter on beaches and litter on river banks.
Call the City’s call centre at 0860 103 089 for more information and enquiries and report illegal dumping on 021 957 4700 (after-hour emergencies).