‘Save our Wild Coast from pollution’
Residents plead with Ramaphosa and Mabuyane to intervene after rubbish including medicine picked up
Residents of the Eastern Cape’s Wild Coast have pleaded with president Cyril Ramaphosa and premier Oscar Mabuyane to save their coastline from pollution.
They said the government should intervene instead of focusing on “smart cities and national projects” because they were in danger due to “contamination” of the coastline.
This comes after hundreds of villagers from five villages along the Wild Coast in Mbizana in the Winnie Madikizela-mandela municipality walked 25km in the past 10 days, fishing out tonnes of rubbish on the shoreline.
The detritus included bottles of medicine and pills, broken bottles, recyclable plastic and other materials.
The villagers are from Xolobeni, Mdatya, Mthentu, Sigidi and Mpindweni villages and worked with the Amadiba Crisis Committee.
They say the pollution poses a danger not only to marine life but their young children and livestock as well.
In a statement sent to the Dispatch, Amadiba’s secretary and spokesperson Nonhle Mbuthuma has raised the alarm about dumping of medical waste.
“We found plenty of medical waste on the beaches.
“Hospitals and clinics must be dumping expired medicines in the wrong places.
“We have never seen sealed medication bottles on our coast. Such waste doesn’t come from villages ...
“Municipalities fail to do the very least expected of local government. They focus on promoting mining and ‘smart cities’ to attract investments,” Mbuthuma said.
Amadiba came into prominence after they opposed the government’s plan to have a private company mine titanium-rich sand dunes in Xolobeni.
With Ramaphosa scheduled to deliver his annual Sona address on Thursday, Mbuthuma said they wanted him to also focus on saving their coastline from pollution.
She said they had stumbled upon hundreds of medicinal and pill containers.
Some were empty while some were still filled with pills and medicines.
“There is also a risk that young children could think these [pills] are sweets and end up swallowing them,” she said.
Mbuthuma said the waste might have travelled to the ocean via some of the many rivers that poured into the Wild Coast.
She attributed the situation to what she said was a collapse of waste management in towns and townships.
“We call upon the premier of the Eastern Cape to lift his eyes from his beloved national mega projects and focus on the local, which is being abandoned.
“He always talks about national projects and yet roads here are so dilapidated and we are struggling to even get basic services like clean water,” Mbuthuma said.
The Dispatch has previously reported that the state was building the R3.4bn Mtentu bridge in the area as part of the N2 Wild Coast upgrades.
Mbuthuma questioned how investors would want to invest in an area where local government was failing to do even the basics.
She also lashed out at Winnie Madikizela-mandela municipal bosses for failing to pick up the rubbish after being informed about the community initiative.
Mayor Daniswa Mafumbatha said the municipality would go there during the course of the week.
They were still busy cleaning the Mzamba Beach first, she added.
Mdatya villager Mthethomtsha Dlamini said they had roped in Amadiba for assistance after discovering all the rubbish.
But he said they were not sure whether it had been dumped deliberately.
Dlamini, a member of a local fishing co-op, said they were worried because many people relied on the sea for food.
Eastern Cape health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said the department was using the services of a medical waste management company to manage its waste.
However, the discovery of the rubbish on the Wild Coast should be reported to the Green Scorpions for investigation.
“The [health] department condemns any illegal dumping of both general and medical
waste as it poses health hazards to the public and environment,” he said.
Mabuyane’s spokesperson, Yanga Funani, meanwhile, rejected claims that the premier only focused on national projects.
He said Mbizana was among several towns that had benefited in recent years from the small town revitalisation programme led by the provincial government.
He said roads had been affected by storms over recent rainy seasons.
The district was, however, working around the clock to ensure they were fixed.
“That any part of our ocean is rubbish-infested is regrettable and warrants investigation particularly on the issue of medical waste.
“The provincial health department has stringent waste management standards and policies and therefore it would be an anomaly if the rubbish came from any of our public health facilities,” he said.
There is also a risk that young children could think these [pills] are sweets and end up swallowing them