EASTERN FREE STATE
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WEDNESDAY 1 MAY 2013
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Living on the dump
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Families have to eat food dumped at landfill site } Tladi Moloi AT this time when South Africans are celebrating Freedom Day, it is sad to witness some people vying for their food with pigs. While some complain about what they have, others have to fight with pigs to get something to eat at the Ficksburg dumping site, west of Senekal. About five families have erected plastic shacks for shelter in the area. Express Eastern Free State has been reliably informed that those people lived in an informal settlement called Zone 8 in Meqheleng. Express EFS was also told that they had decided to leave the site because they had to walk about 16 km every day to find food. Express EFS recently visited the area and on arrival found about 20 street children sitting at the gate. Sadly, three children believed to be between the age of 2 and 5 were also spotted at the site where an unbearable smell hangs in the air that could cause serious illness for anyone living there. Matankiso Masoe (25) said she had been living at the dumping site since 2010. Masoe, a mother of a two-year-old girl who lives with her at the site, said the children’s father had died the year before. She said she had decided to work at the site after she had realised that she could not work anywhere else because she had no identity document. “I am originally from Lesotho and I knew that an ID would just be a nightmare. My child does not have a birth certificate and I have requested the family of her father to help me, but they showed no interest,” she said. When asked how she could live with her children in such circumstances she said: “I’ve got no choice, if she becomes ill, I’ll take her to the clinic.” Express EFS was also told that the owner of one of the shacks had taken an ill child to the clinic. Moeketsi “Rasta” Sebotsa (48), a father of two girls aged 4 and 8, said he had been living at the dumping site for five years and revealed that he had suffered tuberculosis because of the smell. Sebotsa said they usually wait for the trucks carrying food that had reached their expiry date visiting the site on a
DESPERATE TIMES: A man collects plastic bottles from the dumping site. Insert: Some of the women and a child with the food that had reached its expiry date. Some of the children are only three years old. Photos: Tladi Moloi daily basis so that they can get something to eat. “We’ll eat something and then take some of it home for our families to eat,” he said. Sebotsa, who cannot use his left hand, said he had decided to make a living this way because he knew he would not be able to work elsewhere. “I’d rather live by eating this food than stealing from someone,” he said. Karabelo Dikwantsane (43), a mother of four, has been living at the site for five years. She said her children’s father lived
with them but had no job. “I collect plastic and bottles to make a living. There are some people who come twice a week to collect it and they give us money. I sometimes make R100 a week. Even though it is not enough, it’s better than nothing,” she said. Karabo David Thwani, supervisor: waste and landfill site management in the Setsoto Local Municipality, said the municipality was aware of the people and added that they had taken certain steps to get the situation under control. He said a tender had been advertised
for the rehabilitation of the landfill site. “The municipality does not have a bulldozer to work at that site, but we have sourced some of the machines to do dig holes and cover the waste,” he said. He said in terms of gate controllers the councillor would appoint people after the site had been rehabilitated. “We don’t have a proper monitoring system and for that reason there are people at the site.” ) Give your comments on the story on our Facebook Page at Express Eastern Free State.