Image: Werner Hills
Two Port Elizabeth takeaway outlets caught dumping rubbish illegally – directly under a “No dumping” sign – have been fined R2 000 each, public health political head Lance Grootboom said yesterday.
Grootboom said the North End eateries had been issued with the fines and forced to remove the rubbish.
“Many construction companies, private citizens and food outlets have been nabbed dumping illegally since the launch of the illegal dumping task force,” he said.
“As part of the metro’s effort to clean up the city, those caught dumping illegally are going to be named and shamed,” he said.
Sportsground Take Aways shopkeeper Nazrul Islam said he had been dumping at the corner of Theale Street and Trafalgar Square for five years and had never been fined.
“There’s a new sign up there now, but I did not dump there for the past two days. I don’t know who exactly dumped there but we didn’t. The biggest problem we have is that there are no dumping sites in this area.
“We respect the law. We don’t want trouble so we are going to pay the fine on Monday.”
Direct From The Farm owner Sylvester Onumah was at court yesterday when the Weekend Post arrived at his establishment. His wife Cynthia Onumah said the problem was not the fine but the lack of facilities to dump rubbish.
“No one has a place to dump their waste and everyone dumps at the park,” she said.
“I don’t know why it should have attracted a fine because I feel like we should have been issued with a warning as well as solutions to where we can dump.”
Grootboom said if people refused to pay the fines, they would have to provide a reason to the courts.
Illegal dumping can be reported to (041) 585-1555 or 082-781 -9416.