Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork

Chapter 6: Down at the dumpsWhere things go next is not yet clear. Given the failure of the project, Zikode thinksit may be best if the site cleaners are made permanent municipal employers andunionised. In time, however, this is likely to erode Kennedy Road’s monopoly on thosejobs. Now the community’s hopes for more jobs – and for a monopoly of jobs – willclearly inform its participation in the EIA for the proposed transfer station. It seemspossible that the tensions between organising in the work place and organising in thecommunity will re-emerge in this context.The transfer station is opposed by people in Clare Estate. Nevertheless, both Zikodeand Edwards report an improved relationship which seems to be based on the twocommunities beginning to recognise the other. On the one hand, Edwards notes theimportance that Kennedy Road people attach to livelihoods. On the other, Zikoderemarks that “this environmental language is not our language” but, living next to thedump, people now understand about recycling and also recognise the concerns aboutcancers. But while Edwards sees acceptance that the dump will close as critical to anew harmony, Zikode remarks that “we had to have the stronger voice” to supportthe transfer station through the EIA. It remains to be seen whether promises are keptwhen the project is operational.Rival authority: uMgungundlovu and MsunduziuMgungundlovu District Council was brought into being in 2000 when South Africademarcated new municipalities to cover the whole country for the first time. It sprawlsacross a large part of the KwaZulu-Natal midlands, includes seven local municipalitiesand centres on the city of Pietermaritzburg which is presided over by the MsunduziLocal Municipality. Msunduzi has recently announced its ambition to become ametropolitan municipality, a move which re-opens the question of the demarcation ofboundaries and also deepens the shadow over an already clouded relation between thedistrict and local municipality.Waste statistics for the area are highly uncertain. The figures below are based onuMgungundlovu’s IWMP produced in 2004. It calculates domestic waste frompopulation data but the assumptions for per capita waste seem low: it attributes 0.61kg per day to middle and high income groups, 0.3 kg to low income urban groups,and 0.03 kg to low income peri-urban and rural groups.Wasting the Nation - groundWork - 151 -