GEORGE NEWS - The employees of a local business who thought they would get away with dumping a small truckload of refuse on public open land in Diamant Street got a nasty surprise after a bit of detective work by a fed-up businessman.
The employees were caught on camera on the evening of 30 November while illegally offloading the refuse at 20 Diamant Street.
When Awie Cordier, a businessman in Diamant Street, arrived for work the following day to find yet another pile of trash next to his business, as often happens, he started scratching through the rubbish. He found a waybill that led him to a courier company.
“The courier was not the guilty party. It was a waybill for a parcel they had delivered to a company in Fichat Street five years ago. I went to that address, but found the company had just moved away to Pearl Street. When I got to the new premises, I confronted two men whom I recognised from the video footage on our security camera, and they admitted they had done it.”
The two men apologised and immediately jumped into their truck and went back to Diamant Street to pick up the rubbish, says Cordier.
He reported the incident to the municipality.
Cordier says the Diamant Street business people are at their wits’ end because of the amount of dumping there that regularly needs clearing.
Charl Marais, who started the Keep George Clean initiative, said what is shocking is that it is businesses often doing the dumping.
“You can’t believe a business that is making money in George uses public space to dump illegally. It’s really upsetting.”
Illegal dumping is a huge challenge that costs the George ratepayer millions. George Municipality rolled out a campaign against illegal dumping earlier this year, with a budget of R16.34m allocated to address the persisting problem.
Debra Sauer, the municipality’s communications officer, responded as follows to a query regarding the incident: “Law Enforcement officers do issue fines for illegal dumping as part of our ongoing compliance and environmental management operations.
"However, the municipality cannot comment on or confirm the details of any specific fine issued to any individual or business, as this constitutes personal information protected under the Protection of Personal Information Act. We can, however, emphasise that all reports of illegal dumping are investigated in accordance with applicable municipal by-laws and standard enforcement procedures.”
The public may lay complaints by visiting the Law Enforcement Offices at 25B Cathedral Street, phoning 044 801 6350 (07:45 to 16:30) or 044 801 6300 (after-hours standby team for by-law-related emergencies only), or sending an email to sprins@george.gov.za.
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