DURBAN - Illegal dumping and scores of recyclable product collectors scavenging off bakkies and trucks are making the drive through Electron Road near the Bisasar Road landfill site in Springfield unbearable.
Refuse is piling up on the road and the pavements at the intersection of Dhulam, Electron and Bisasar roads.
A group of collectors who ply their trade by climbing on to bakkies and trucks before the vehicles enter the landfill site are adding to the problem by discarding items they do not want on the pavement.
The road has been cleared by the municipality’s Roads Department, but in a matter of days it returns to the same dirty condition.
The road has been a thorn in the side of the municipality and the area has been rife with conflict with the Metro law enforcement agencies.
In November 2015, the Daily News reported that a group of 30 collectors had stoned a Metro Police mini bus and petrol bombed it near the Bisasar Road landfill site.
Satish Dhupelia, Sydenham Community Policing Forum spokesperson, said a portion of the population did not respect the law.
He blamed the wealthy for dumping their goods instead of paying a few rand to use the landfill facility.
“The collectors are trying to resell whatever they can salvage. We need the people to follow rules and regulations. On a regular basis, there are clean-ups but of late, the authorities are stretched to the limit, fighting crime.
“It is a recurring problem.
“We have asked Durban Solid Waste to accommodate these people inside the landfill site or allocate them a spot.
“They have not given any feedback for years on the suggestion,” Dhupelia said.
Shane Mahabeer, a motorist and Clare Estate resident for four decades who travels on the road daily, described the situation as pathetic.
“Strangely enough, the second half of the roadway towards the City Engineers is cleaned daily by road sweepers.
“My colleague witnessed a scrap collector climb on to a truck and throw a 2-litre drum on the roadway in the path of an oncoming car.
“The driver swerved out of the way.
“The guy retrieved the drum and carried on walking. Three or four months ago, they had a security guard placed there and it was clean,” Mahabeer said.
He suggested that cameras be installed and that perpetrators caught on camera should be punished.
Mahabeer said the dirt had blocked stormwater drains creating a pool of water on the road over the kerbs.
The eThekwini municipality had not commented at the time of publication.