Residents of Krugersdorp in the Mogale City Local Municipality woke up in the night and this morning with burning eyes, breathing problems and headache after yet another fire broke out at the Luipaardsvlei landfill.
This is the fifth fire to break out at the dumping site since the beginning of the year. The previous fire was put out just a few days ago.
The FF Plus has been inundated with messages from residents complaining about the smoke since early this morning.
Some residents had to get up in the night and put towels under their doors to try and keep the smoke out of their house.
The residential areas most affected are Krugersdorp North, Wentworth Park, Luipaardsvlei, the city centre, Dan Pienaarville and Rand en Dal.
With the FF Plus’s visit to the site this morning, it discovered that most of the equipment is out of order while no effort has been made to put out the fire.
The party requested Mogale City’s Department of Health in a letter to urgently conduct an environmental impact study to determine the effect of the air pollution from the burning landfill on residents’ health and the natural environment.
The Municipality has already admitted, in response to questions about the matter from the FF Plus, that the gases released by the fires pose a health risk.
The FF Plus lodged a complaint about the air pollution with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) last week, and requested that the Gauteng Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) should also step in to help resolve the problem.
Krugersdorp residents deserve to live and work in an environment that is not harmful to their health.
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