Township residents want pigs out

Some residents of the more well-to-do area in Imbali Unit J, Pietermaritzburg, want their neighbour to stop farming pigs in the township. Mbuso Duma operates a piggery from his house with its spacious yard. He has two pigsties built from corrugated iron for his 12 pigs. There is a concrete wall around the premises.

“The smell is bad. When it is hot, it is unbearable … We are now forced to keep the doors locked. There are green flies all over … How can one have pig farming in between other homes? This is torture,” complained a neighbour.

“I won’t stop my business. No one will die from the smell,” said Duma.

Duma is not a farmer. He started his piggery about a year ago. He has been living in Imbali for five years.

“I operate my business in daylight. No one has ever contracted a sickness from pig’s odour. Seeing how expensive pork meat is, I decided to start my business … I’m doing my customers a favour,” said Duma.

Another neighbour said it wasn’t the smell alone, but the noise. “It is disturbing. If we were living in a village we wouldn’t be complaining … At night the pigs make a loud noise. We can’t sleep in peace,” he said.

Ward councillor Bhekabantu Zuma said Imbali was a township and not an agricultural area and pig farming was not allowed. “I will contact the environmental team to check on the situation. The team will have to evaluate the area. From my understanding, a township is not suitable for any type of farming,” said Zuma.

Msunduzi Municipality spokesperson Thobeka Mafumbatha confirmed that pigs could not be kept in the township. “The Environmental Health unit will investigate this matter and issue a compliance notice to the property owner should there be contraventions of the by-laws. Legal proceedings will be instituted for non-compliance,” Mafumbatha said.

But Duma said, “No one will stop me. People should be complaining about firms that are polluting the air. As long as no one is getting sick from the pigs’ odour, I won’t stop.”

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