Wasting the Nation.indd - Groundwork

Chapter 6: Down at the dumpsplunder equipment does not seem to have occurred to either officials or auditors.Instead, the term ‘picker’ is used indiscriminately.This is not to say that the presence of many pickers on the site does not poseproblems for good management. The pickers themselves are most at risk. They haveno protective clothing and, at a number of sites, they told of people being killed inaccidents. The site auditors also report seeing pickers lighting fires – a practice which isobviously dangerous particularly on a site where the management of LFG is less thanexemplary.Over the last year, a number of the most serious issues raised by the auditors have beenremedied according to both Jogiat and landfill manager Cyril Naidoo. The leachateand gas systems have been restored, a new compactor bought and adequate covermaterial supplied. At the same time, management is caught in a fortress mentality.The fence remains full of holes but security staff numbers have been beefed up as thefrontline against pickers. Jogiat comments that there has been no attempt to workwith the pickers.Security aside, it seems that the necessary investments were made at the instigation ofMgungundlovu who provided half the capital funding. It is less certain that Msunduziitself recognised, or cared, that the landfill was in crisis. Participants in the LandfillMonitoring Committee say that it remains a low priority for council and this isreflected in the constant postponement of meetings.Privatised projects seem to have attracted more attention. With unusual efficiency,tenders have been awarded to build and operate a CDM gas-to-energy project anda recycling centre at the landfill gate. Streamlined EIAs have been carried out withparticipation reduced to a single public meeting for each project. By all accounts, themeetings were publicised only in a neighbouring white suburb. There was no meetingin Sobantu, municipal workers are in the dark about the contracts and consulting thedump pickers was never on the agenda. These projects are, in Naidoo’s view, proof thatthe City is “passionate about waste”. It seems more likely that these projects are seento hold opportunity. Naidoo hopes the recycling centre will employ some of the dumppickers but says he will have no influence on the decision of the company.Wasting the Nation - groundWork - 155 -