League’s 8-year legal fight justified as Makana rehabilitates rubbish dump

After eight years of litigation and the appointment of a private contractor, Makana municipality feels it is well on its way to meeting ambitious plans to turn its once-disastrous and environmentally hazardous rubbish dump into a world-class municipal landfill site.

Makana mayor Mzukisi Mpahlwa says the results are there for all to see.

He is right. The burning, smelly, litter-strewn area pumping thick, toxic smoke into Makhanda just 5km away is gone. The landfill site now has a new periphery fence, the rubbish is covered daily, there is no sign of any fires and access is strictly controlled by security. The access road is maintained, waste screening takes place daily, and there is a stormwater management plan in place.

However, the question of whether the municipality can afford the R500,000 monthly price tag that comes with privatising management of the landfill site is unclear. Mpahlwa admits this. “The challenge that we are faced with is finance.”

But the municipality has signed a 36-month contract valued at some R20.5m with specialist firm Mphele Engineers — so for the next three years it has no choice but to cough up.

Last week, the civil society organisation behind the relentless eight-year litigation against the municipality, the Makana Unity League (MUL), withdrew its contempt proceedings against Mpahlwa and municipal manager Moppo Mene. It did so on the cusp of the two men having to serve six months in jail for contempt of court.

MUL head Professor Owen Skae says they have finally purged their contempt and the landfill site is functioning in line with the 2015 high court order.

Simply put, that order required the municipality to bring the site into line with the requirements of the constitution, environmental legislation and the conditions of the permit in terms of which the municipality runs the site.

“Not once [during the eight years of litigation] was there any effort by the municipality to be proactive,” says Skae.

“The municipality did not fulfil its mandate, no matter what we did. We kept hoping it would not go to the next step, but it did, and we pursued it right to the end.

“In the end it was worth it. We did it reluctantly and it was not our first choice. But it is about holding our local authority and the municipal public officials to account.”

He said there were more demands placed on local government than there was capacity to deliver, and there was no consequence management in place to improve that capacity.

But, when faced with the ultimate consequence of possible imprisonment of its top officials, the municipality delivered.

“It’s a travesty. Citizens are less and less tolerant. We must respect the democratic process but there is also an obligation [by the elected] to abide by the constitution.”

According to Mpahlwa’s latest report on progress being made at the two-decades old landfill site, the next step is to investigate its decommissioning when it reaches capacity.

“The investigation of a new landfill site in line with the spatial development plan has commenced.”

But, he says, finances are tight. He appealed to residents to cough up for municipal services.

“[If they do], I am confident that we can turn this municipality around to become one of the best in the province.”

The burning, smelly, litter-strewn area pumping thick, toxic smoke into Makhanda just 5km away is gone