Lynette Louw

No medical waste treatment facility will be allowed to be developed on the R40. This was firm stance of residents of Barberton during a public participation meeting held in the town hall last week.

Plot owners on the farm Bornmansdrift raised the alarm a few weeks ago when construction started on a plot opposite the Caledonian turn-off. A small notice appeared next to the road with information that an application has been sent to the department of environmental affairs for the proposed development of a health risk-waste treatment facility as well as the construction of an access road to the proposed facility.

At the meeting Lucky Malaza of Imvelo Environmental Consultants introduced Dr Bongani Mkhabela who was the CEO of Sita Sive Health Care and Medical Waste Services.

Before the meeting could even commence a resident challenged the two men in the use of the word “proposed” in the agenda. Given the construction on the site he alleged that “proposed”  be changed to “intended” as the company has already started with construction before any permission has been given or the necessary impact studies done.

A heated discussion followed where Mkhabela tried to inform the residents that his company was at present only a sanitation company and they were busy building a warehouse on the property to store their equipment and trucks as they want to relocate from KwaZulu Natal and at present only have a small office in Nelspruit.

This statement was immediately challenged by Cllr Phillip Minnaar who said that if this was the case the municipality has no knowledge of it and what they were doing was illegal. “The land was zoned for agricultural and residential use and no request for industrial rezoning was received by the council,” he said.

Marjorie Nuns, Barberton Environmental Committee, told Barberton Times that she spoke to Malaza when she heard he was the consultant and told him they needed an Environment Impact Assesment (EIA) done and also requested the Basic Information Document (BID) before the participation meeting. She only received it the previous evening around 20:00 and a few copies were handed out at the meeting. “It contained misleading and incorrect information referring throughout to the proposed development with no mention of the illegal activities that had already taken place, or of the required rectification process,” she said.

She also managed to track down Nomcebo Mvelese who is the environmental health campaign manager of the NGO Groundwork stationed in KwaZulu Natal. Her work focuses on proper management of health-care waste and the general improvement of environment health. Groundwork managed to close down a waste facility that was operational for many years in Ixopo in 2001. She attended the meeting with the intention to assist if necessary.

She challenged Mkhabela for using the company name Sita Sive which is that of a huge international waste disposal company situated in Australia. Mkhabela admitted that they weren’t affiliated to this company.

A neighbouring plot owner told Barberton Times that the company also illegally decimated a large area of bush on his property to create an access road and some of its equipment were discarded on his property.

A proposal was finally accepted by Mkhabela in which he agreed to adjourn the meeting before it could even be considered as part of the public participation process. He also undertook to cease all activities on the site immediately and start with proper legal procedures.

Although there is no medical waste facility situated in Mpumalanga according to Mkhabela, he indicated that there was a need for one and that his company would like to expand their sanitation services to include medical waste.

The message from the floor was unfortunately very clear – residents of Umjindi will not allow such a facility in their midst.

Dr Bongani Mkhabela

Andy Nuns addressing the participants at the meeting