Landfill site meant to serve Mthatha villagers left to vandals

A landfill site in Qweqwe village, Mthatha, has been left to ruin after R32-million was spent on it. Photo: Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik

Back in 2012, villagers in Qweqwe near Mthatha in the Eastern Cape offered the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) and the King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality a 48-hectare site to use as a landfill.

Construction started in February 2017, with the R32-million project meant to be finished in 2021. But the contractor left in 2019 and about 300 people lost their jobs. Young people complained to us about their loss of work.

The site was left unguarded and has been badly vandalised. Pipes lie on the ground, building materials have been stripped away.

The project was meant to benefit the Qweqwe community by creating employment and an income stream from a lease agreement. The municipality would pay a R250,000 rental every three months for 25 years.

Resident Mkhululi Mtuyedwa said a trust fund was registered to collect the payments.

“Not a single cent has been paid and according to our lease agreement the rent should have started in 2021 after the construction finished. The last time the municipal officials were here, they told us that R250,000 is too much, they can only afford R150,000 per quarter,” said Mtuyedwa.

“Almost every day during the day we block trucks who want to dump in that site because people think it is finished,” he said.

Municipality spokesperson Sonwabo Mampoza said a lease is being negotiated, but gave no details.

DFFE spokesperson Peter Mbelengwa said R32.5-million was allocated to the project to establish a new regional landfill site in Mthatha. Linlos Investments 2 and Ikamva Consulting were to plan and implement it. It included the landfill cell, guardhouse, weighbridge, admin block, access road, fencing, and a leachate pond. These were completed, except for the lining of the landfill cell and the leachate pond. The outstanding work is estimated to cost R7.6-million. But work stopped when Ikamva said it had run out of funds.

“The Department issued the letter of demand to the implementer as an acknowledgement of debt, instructing them to pay back the funds [R7.6-million] for the outstanding activities,” he said.

Mbelengwa said the department engineer estimated at least R10-million was needed to finish the project. But due to budget cuts, “there are no funds to complete the project”, although the department is committed to completing it.

Lisolomzi Sogayise of Ikamva Consulting said in terms of their contract the company may not comment.

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