The streets of Johannesburg are bustling with activity, an intrinsic characteristic of the CBD. Women selling fresh produce sit in the sun all day, with green spinach, blood-red tomatoes and ripe cabbage enticing walkers-by. A colourful array of people can be seen lying face down on the grass in Joubert Park, the biggest public park in the CBD, an arrangement reminiscent of an artwork made of humans. Standing beside the still bodies, unaffected street photographers stand idly in the park, waiting for customers to ask them to take the perfect ID photo. And in the centre of this scene lies the Greenhouse Project, a quiet sanctuary filled with the smell of fresh herbs.
The Greenhouse Project has stood on the corner of Klein and Wolmarans streets since 1993. The space flourishes with organic vegetables, herbs and plants, and many have walked through it – from volunteers to customers who thrive on organic living. Known as the Victorian Hothouse, a conservatory stands decrepit amongst towering trees that have stood the test of time.
Below the ancient trees, their yellow flowers are scattered all around the tarred ground of the Greenhouse Project. Thabisile Mchunu, director and administrator of the GreenHouse, points out how beautiful they look. Mchunu, who is in her 60s, looks like she dressed according to the theme. She wears a lime green blouse paired with yellow loafers, a style that matches effortlessly with her dyed blonde natural ‘do.
It’s clear to see that Mchunu fits in perfectly with the surroundings, which drew her permanently in soon after her first visit in 2011. The GreenHouse Project first caught her eye while she was a co-opted board member at CBU Hub, an organisation that specialises in community projects. The corporate world veteran swapped her high heels for gardening gloves and despite the shrinking of the initial CBU Hub members that visited on a regular basis, she developed a connection with the space, which eventually got her the role as director.
“We’re [Mabule Mokhine, the executive director and Mchunu] are running this place with almost no income. We just do volunteer work and the little we get does not justify the amount of work we do,” says Mchunu. “But we’re trying to keep the space alive.”
GREEN CITY: The City of Johannesburg’s Greenhouse Project in Joubert Park. YELLOW SEASON: Fever tree flowers sprinkle the grounds of the Greenhouse Project.
Mchunu has worked hard to keep the space open, which has almost been swallowed up by the ‘concrete jungle’ characteristics of the inner city. Joubert Park and the Greenhouse Project in its entirety almost became a part of the nearby MTN taxi rank which would have seen the green pastures being exchanged for tons of concrete and blaring greenhouse gas emitters in the form of taxis.
Behind the tall trees, an abandoned grey building stands. The lack of life within it is emphasised by the pane-less windows gaping at street walkers on every floor. Hope of life is restored by the trees that unexpectedly peak off the rooftop of the building, a pleasant surprise for the onlooker. Proof that Johannesburg truly is a man-made forest, its nature making its home not only on the ground, but also on the city’s tallest buildings.
However, between the building and the trees at the Greenhouse Project stand two large fences, one with elaborate electric fencing. To have a peaceful space in one of the most dangerous areas of Johannesburg means that, unfortunately, people have to be kept out and heavy screening by 24-hour security guards must take place when any person wishes to enter.
“We would have vagrants that would come through every part of this space,” says Mchunu. “Every moment they find they would jump in and rip things apart. Three months ago we had a burglary at 3am. We’re in the middle of Hillbrow here.”
But not all the people that the Greenhouse Project attracts have a desire to destroy the space. Beyond the big metal gates designed in the form of a vine complete with flowers, a group of workers armed with sunhats and gardening tools, are responsible for keeping the garden fresh and the vegetables growing.
One pair of these green-fingered hands belongs to Sizwe Mazibuko, a volunteer hailing from the hills of KwaZulu-Natal. Mazibuko visits the Greenhouse four times a week, a requirement that forms part of the 18 months of practical work he has to do for his Farming Management Diploma at Umfolozi College in Richard’s Bay.
Despite the variety of farms that can be found in KwaZulu-Natal, Mazibuko has found himself deep in the city of Johannesburg, where he has lived for eight months. Dressed in black from head to toe, and armed with a smile that exposes his two front gold teeth, Mazibuko’s face has several scars, evidence of a difficult life lived in his 28 years.
LUSH SPACES: The green spaces of the Greenhouse Project are looked after by a dedicated team of volunteers.
However, a year-and-a-half of volunteering work in Johannesburg will not cover his rent for the place he is staying at, close by to Joubert Park. Mazibuko works part time delivering bread around the city. “It is to survive. Life is expensive. At the same time, I don’t earn anything here,” he says.
Although he is new to Johannesburg, Mazibuko has taken on the qualities of the typical city dweller: he is hardworking and determined. Goals are what are important to him, starting with the acquirement of his diploma once he has finished his practical segment. Thereafter, he would like to complete a Postgraduate Certificate in Education so he is able to teach people about his love for agriculture and organic farming.
Living in Johannesburg isn’t easy for Mazibuko. “It’s hard when you still have dreams of achieving your objectives,” he says. “I still have things to reach.”
But for him, the GreenHouse Project is a sanctuary in the rat race of a city. “I love this place. It’s a good environment for a human. It makes your mind work. I love each and everything you see here. It’s good for me because I’ve been through some times,” says Mazibuko, who grew up in the small KwaZulu-Natal town of Mtubatuba.
A stroll further into the space reveals a small building donated by the Norwegian Church Aid, complete with a finished kitchen made up of wooden cabinets and marble counters – all recycled material.
There you can find Dineo Tsoabi, a partner of the Greenhouse Project, cooking a fragrant pot of fresh spinach using the nifty biodigester, which Mchunu explains “uses food waste to generate gas that can be used for cooking, making hand creams, cough mixtures and hair products”.
Tsoabi could easily be mistaken for a teenager if one had to judge her by her height, but she has lived for a total of 37 years. “As partners with Greenhouse, we [she and a few other women] develop the space, making sure the space is green,” she says.
Like Mchunu, the Greenhouse Project first caught Tsoabi’s eye when she used to attend monthly CBU Hub meetings once a month at the space. “We came to the agreement that if the Greenhouse Project deals with admin and funding, we will train students from university and the community to start food gardens,” says the partner, who hails from Vanderbjilpark, but now lives in the township of Sebokeng, which is also close to the Vaal River.
Educating the community on organic farming is something that Tsoabi holds close to her heart. She can be found taking people on educational tours, both in the Vaal and at the Greenhouse Project and sometimes as part of the Edu Tours organisation, which specialises in school tours.
The love of organic farming is something that flows through her bloodline. “I learnt organic farming from my parents,” says Tsoabi. “My father bought the plot which my parents live on to utilise the space.”
Her 13-year-old daughter, who lives with Tsoabi’s parents, is also learning the benefits of farming. “I want to show her how important it is to grow food. Sometimes kids don’t know where things like cabbage and spinach come from, so I hope that she will pass on these lessons to the other kids,” she says.
Dressed comfortably in blue gender-neutral overalls, Tsoabi comes to Johannesburg every day to work in the gardens. However, since the Greenhouse Project struggles with funding, Tsoabi and the others like her do not get paid on a regular basis, which means they must find other ways to make money.
The streets of Johannesburg thrive with entrepreneurs on every corner, such as the women who can be seen day in and day out behind their own vegetable-selling stalls. The Greenhouse Project has embraced the entrepreneurship ways of the city, lessons that have provided Tsoabi with innovative ways to make money.
“We sell produce to informal restaurants and the ladies who sell it on the street,” said Tsoabi, who also spends her time fighting the consequences of climate change by freely educating people of its dangers on trains. She also makes and sells skincare, medicinal and hair care products made only of the natural elements found in the gardens.
Ingredients for these products include plants such as the fascinating stinging nettle with its rather contradictory characteristics. Needle-like edges of the freshly-picked plant leave a stinging sensation that lasts a few minutes if struck on the skin. However, it can also treat wounds and arthritis either by ingestion or direct application to the skin.
Tsoabi says the people of Johannesburg have shown a keen interest in the Greenhouse Project, especially those from other countries.
URBAN JUNGLE: The Greenhouse Project is the ultimate definition of the “urban jungle” with buildings peeking from the greenery.
She is often approached to cure the sicknesses of others using herbal remedies. “I can make a general herbal mix for those people because I respect people’s privacy,” says Tsoabi.
One of the go-to herbs for such a mix can be spotted in the garden in the form of blooming flowers named nasturium which acts as an antibiotic for a variety of infections.
“They [Tsoabi and the other ladies] know the herbs, they know what they cure,” says Mchunu. “Now they’re going to harvest comfrey for me because I have a friend who suffers from continuous hip pain, so I thought I should ask the ladies to give me some comfrey leaves which he can soak and consume and see if the pain goes away.”
Tsoabi’s group is not the only set of healing hands at the Greenhouse Project. A wellness centre named Conlinea Health and Wellness is visited twice a month by a homeopathic doctor, Dr James Motaung. On the days he visits, the patient waiting room is packed with a variety of patients, mostly elderly, but the odd young person can be spotted in the throng.
Masefako Matjie is at the doctor’s rooms for the first time, dressed in an attire worthy of a church Sunday – a floral dress with a pink blazer. Although the queues were disappointing for her, after she had travelled from her Alexandra home, she says she prefers herbal medicine over normal pharmaceuticals because “they lack chemicals”, she says.
In the city of Johannesburg, where concrete, skyscrapers and cars can be the only thing in sight, the Greenhouse Project is a vision for sore eyes. The fresh vegetables and plants provide an aesthetic sanctuary but with them, the ancient practice of healing can be utilised across the city.
A beautiful intersection between the economic powerhouse of South Africa and the biggest man-made forest in the world is created by the Greenhouse Project, which will hopefully remain for the benefit of Johannesburg’s urban dwellers for many years to come.
FEATURED IMAGE: A plant inside a tire. Photo: Tendani Mulaudzi
Introducing sustainable and greener systems into a small business is believed to be costly, but some restaurants have found a way to make it work and cover their costs simultaneously.
In-depth 2016: Joburg CBD Founded in a gold rush during the 1800s, the early days set Johannesburg’s character as busy and constantly on the move. Many came from all over the country, continent and the world to seek their fortunes. Some prospered, others did not. By...
An environmental consultant has encouraged Wits to take the lead in plans to save the planet.
Lindsay Wayman, from Oricol Environmental Services, said South Africa falls in the top 20 greenhouse gas emitters in the world.
The harmful effects of greenhouse gases on the atmosphere are widely documented and include global warming, ozone depletion and adverse effects on biodiversity.
Wayman said the campus looks clean and has litter bins. But she called on the university to improve its waste management because litter was destined for landfill.
This results in waste not breaking up properly thus producing methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times worse for the environment than carbon monoxide.
She said graduates who leave the institution should have something to offer to the world in terms of reducing their carbon footprint.
“Wits’ aim shouldn’t be about intellectual standards only but sustainability as well.
“It starts here. The skills students get here are what they will take into the world.”
Wayman also called on the university to have a recycling website, recycling maps and even recycling events, such as a green week.
Wits’ grounds and waste management manager, Andries Norval, said awareness campaigns have been lined up for everyone at Wits, including the cleaning staff.
“We are trying to get permission from senior management to do recycling presentations in lectures and we are committed to see Wits leading all tertiary institutions in South Africa as far as recycling is concerned,” Norval said.
Universities around the world, such as the University of Sussex, have vibrant recycling initiatives which one can easily access on their website.
A group of Wits students has started their own branch of a non-governmental organisation, Generation Earth, which will be launched this weekend.
“Recycling should be a key part of Wits admin and the university should lead the students by example by having a greener mindset; a lot of people want to live green lifestyles but they just don’t know how,” said Generation Earth Wits president Michael Constantinides.
Wits has a recycling centre behind the DJ Du Plessis Building, West Campus and students are welcome to send their electrical gadgets there for recycling.
Grassfires have lit up our city and black plumes of smoke have ascended over it too, but whether controlled or wild, these fires spark the debate of whether they are beneficial or not.
Imagine driving down the N1 highway when a white haze takes over the sky and obscures your line of vision. The car, truck or whatever in front of you an unrecognisable haze no matter how hard you squint. Hazards blink at double speed, a desperate safety warning that you are on the road too.
You can smell the scent of burnt grass, smoke filtering through your air vents. You try to close them, but it is too late, the car has already filled with dust and ash. A cough escapes as you wipe your watery eyes and then you see the flames engulfing the nature reserve you drive by every day. Bunnies hope, birds fly, and snakes slither away from the flames. You watch as the firemen throw water on the flames, get in their truck, and drive away.
Johannesburg’s Winter months have seen many grass fires blazing alongside highways and homes, but no one really understands if these fires are readying the ground for new life in Spring, or if they are random and just killing many species in their wake.
Sporadic fires and controlled fires look identical, with the only difference being the havoc they wreak.
The veld section part of EnviroServ’s property was reduced to ashes when an out-of-control fire swept up everything in its path. Photo: Victoria Hill
Veld next to The Meridian complex in Solheim was doused in smoke, creating a very ominous picture as residents looked on. Photo: Victoria Hill
AG De Witt Drive between Bedfordview, Solheim, and Dawnview had decreased visibility due to a roadside fire that was not under supervision. Photo: Victoria Hill
A fire on the corner of AG De Witt Drive and Kloof Road boarded on a private residence, causing harmful fumes to envelop the property. Photo: Victoria Hill
The small piece of veld next to Smit Street on-ramp in Braamfontein was smoking one afternoon whilst civilians laid amongst the flames and fumes. Photo: Victoria Hill
After a controlled veld fire, new blades of grass could be seen rising from the ashes, indicating the usefulness of grass fires in Winter months. Photo: Victoria HIll
Controlled burning of grasslands or velds are actually a common occurrence in Johannesburg and other parts of South Africa. Joburg City Parks says this acts as a firebreak so that if accidental fires do occur, they do not spread very far. However, they also act as an ecological resetter — fire removes dead matter from the ecosystem which could potentially house harmful insects, pests, weeds, or diseases.
Research says dead matter also holds onto nutrients that would otherwise be absorbed into the soil for other plants to use as food. The ash produced from grass fires can also act as a natural fertiliser for plant growth in the Spring as it contains vitamins and minerals like phosphorous, calcium, and potassium.
Examples of these sorts of fires can be seen in the black grass dressing Johannesburg’s velds. Many of us do not even realise a grass fire occurred because it was quick and controlled, but impactful.
Accidental fires, or uncontrolled fires, are not ecologically friendly as they just burn and burn until they are stopped — hopefully. They occur mostly near very dry grasslands, usually due to a lit cigarette being discarded or just bad luck. They sweep close to residential areas, cars, people, and anything else in its path.
Let us not forget the little creatures that never make it out alive like earthworms, spiders, ants, and other insects vital for aerating soil or biologically controlling pests. Bird nests also die in the blaze, including their chicks or eggs that were nestled inside.
An example of this would be the huge black cloud of smoke that covered Brickfield Road in Germiston on Saturday, August 10. What was meant to be a controlled burning of a large veld turned nasty when the wind swept the flames to a neighbouring plastic recycling plant. The smoke let off from these types of fires also contribute to air pollution as it contains harmful greenhouse gases. Bethany Augliere, a writer for Earth Magazine, says burning grass releases nitrogen pollution that harms air quality.
Another instance was on Sunday, August 11, when veld next to a busy main road between Bedfordview and Germiston was under a controlled burn but soon got carried away and closer towards boundary walls of residential homes. Because of the close proximity, this thick and polluted air was inhaled by humans and their pets which can have disastrous health implications. Firemen were told to keep the area on their radar to ensure the flames fizzled themselves out relatively soon, which they did.
Fire is a scary element, one that can burn anything in its path to the ground. As children, we were always told not to play with fire, lest our fingers get burnt. But then we watched phoenixes combust into a blaze on television screens, and saw a new creature emerge from the fire’s centre. So, is fire really just a killer or also a mother giving birth to new life?
FEATURED IMAGE: A huge black plume of smoke adorned the sky in parts of the East Rand on Saturday, August 10, after a veld fire spiralled out of control. Photo: Victoria Hill
Today is when our luck officially runs out because humanity has stripped earth of its ecological resources for the year.
The oceans are empty and the sun has hidden away. The crops are mangled messes and animals lay unmoving. The moon does not light up the road and the earth is matted in darkness. Lightbulbs are failing, oxygen is scarce, and the stench of carbon dioxide is smelt for miles. Cars are stranded without fuel and homes have disintegrated into dust. Humans remain alive, but the earth is a ghost town.
This is what life would look like without earth’s natural resources, yet this image is still not enough to generate widespread panic worldwide. Humanity is overextending the earth’s arm to the point where we are running out of yearly resources before we have revolved around the sun.
Earth Overshoot Day (EOD) falls on August 1 this year, which means in just seven months, humanity has used all the resources earth can regenerate in this given year. For the earth to satisfy the current rate of human demand and consumption of ecological resources, there would need to be 1,7 earths.
Humanity’s current rate of demand would need more than just our earth alone to keep up. Graphic: Victoria Hill
More concerning is if the entire world lived like South Africa, the EOD would have been on June 20, meaning we would need 2,1 earths to survive on earth’s resources this year. Whilst not the worst country, we are definitely nowhere near the best.
The Global Footprint Network, an international research organisation, calculates the EOD by dividing the earth’s biocapacity by humanity’s ecological footprint and multiplying it by the number of days in a year.
Simply put, they determine the rate at which earth can produce resources whilst still absorbing waste, and compares this to how dependent humans are on this service each year.
In numbers, the earth’s biocapacity sits at 1,5 global hectares per person whilst the ecological footprint is at 2,6 global hectares per person, where 1,6 of this is a person’s average carbon footprint.
There is currently a 1,1 global hectare per person deficit in the world, and the gap is not closing fast enough. Graphic: Victoria Hill
To digest this further, there is a resource deficit of 73% in the world in 2024. This explains the basis of what causes climate change and global warming — overexploitation. The aim of the Global Footprint Network is to illustrate ways in which the economy can operate within earth’s ecological limits. So, it is not all doom and gloom.
Research says cutting greenhouse emissions from fossil fuels by 50% would move the EOD back three months. This makes sense because fossil fuels are the main contributor to waste production and global warming worldwide. If major emitters such as China, the United States of America, Russia, and India were to all set emission targets lower than their current level, the earth’s biocapacity would increase and ecological resources would feel less strain.
Holistic solutions also lie within five major sectors, namely cities, food production, energy generation, population, and the planet.
There are many sectors in which solutions lie for the EOD to move later in the year. Graphic: Victoria Hill
So, whilst we may have officially run out of resources for this year, we can work towards living within earth’s boundaries so that a happy medium can be obtained in the future.
FEATURED IMAGE: The earth is beautiful and paints the sky in oranges and reds, but it is dying and we need to act quickly. Photo: Victoria Hill
Soon, the city of Joburg will be sinking in its own rubbish
Piles of waste next to the road in Johannesburg’s CBD. Photo: Ayanda Mgwenya
While walking through Johannesburg’s CBD, it is difficult to ignore the amount of rubbish that coats the inner city’s streets. Bree Street, which was recently hit by a gas explosion, is now filled with some of the waste that is carried throughout the city and blown around by the wind, into the raptured road.
However, a more pressing issue lies hidden within Johannesburg’s landfills, which are meant to accommodate the continuously increasing piles of waste from the streets and illegal dumping grounds.
The current operating landfills in Johannesburg, namely: Goudkoppies Landfill Site, Marie Louis Landfill Site, Genesis Landfill Site, and Robinson Deep Landfill Site, are running out of space to dispose of waste rapidly produced by the increasing population of residents living in Johannesburg.
A report, compiled by, Kobus Otto & Associates Waste Management Consultants, a professional civil engineering organisation with extensive experience in waste management, titled Current Status of Landfill Airspace in Gauteng, which is affiliated with the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa (IWMSA), states that these landfills have less than five years before they close.
According to the DA’s Shadow MMC of Public Safety, Michael Sun, who spoke to SowetanLiveduring his time as the MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services, said, “There is a critical need for waste reduction in that the city’s existing landfills are running out of airspace at a very fast rate.” This could mean that the current operating landfills in Johannesburg are close to exceeding the benchmark of their airspace capacity.
Robinsons Landfill
Situated in industrial peripheries of Turffontein is the Robinsons Deep Landfill Site. It is the largest and oldest landfill in the city and has been in operation since 1933.
As you arrive at Robinson Landfill, the first thing that strikes you is the sight of the towering mountains, but instead of its natural greenery, they are composed of an overwhelming amount of waste.
Going further up the mountain, the waste thickens. Piles upon piles of discarded items strewn about, accompanied by an overwhelming and repulsive stench that will assault your senses – with waste pickers actively searching for anything valuable – be it plastic, glass or cardboard for recycling.
“The waste pickers are there illegally, in terms of our license, they are not supposed to be there.”
Donald Radingoana
You will find a variety of waste such Municipal Solid Waste (MSW): This is the most common type of domestic waste and includes everyday items like food scraps, packaging materials, newspapers, clothing, plastics, glass, paper products, and other common household materials.
Organic waste, such as food waste, garden waste (including leaves, branches, and grass clippings), and other biodegradable materials, is also commonly deposited in landfills.
Building rubble (concrete from demolished structures, including foundations, walls, bricks and pavement), and other hazardous materials like cleaning chemicals, pesticides, batteries, and electronic waste is found in the landfill too.
All of this waste is combined without proper sorting, forming unorganized piles. Large trucks queue up one after the other, from as early as 09:00 to as late as 20:00, to deposit this waste in the landfill. This is a daily on-going process and without massive effective recycling methods, the waste will continue to pile up.
Wits Vuvuzela interviewed Donald Radingoana, the general manager for landfill operations at Pikitup who said, “what determines the lifespan of a landfill is the capacity [airspace]. Every now and then, the surveyor comes and surveys the stockpile [of waste]” to determine the height of the pile. According to their license which determines the capacity, Radingoana said that the total capacity of the landfill is 25 000 000m3, and Robinsons has occupied 24 000 000m3 which leaves the landfill with only 1 000 000m3 remaining, and this airspace can keep them operating for four years.
Waste scattered at the Robinsons landfill. Photo: Ayanda Mgwenya
Waste management entity
Pikitup, a subsidiary of the City of Johannesburg (CoJ), serves as the primary waste management service provider within the CoJ. Its core responsibilities encompass the collection and disposal of household waste, carried out through the operation of four distinct landfills across Johannesburg. On a weekly basis, Pikitup delivers waste management services to 1.4 million formal households and 260 informal settlements in Johannesburg.
Pikitup has two primary objectives. The first objective is to achieve “Zero waste to landfills by 2022,” aligning with the global best practice standard, which stipulates that only 10% of the waste stream should be disposed of in landfills”.
The second key objective of Pikitup is to promote recycling. Recycling is essential in the reduction of the amount of waste sent to landfills and extracting maximum value from the waste stream.
Unfortunately, Pikitup has not been able to meet its own objectives in the reduction of waste sent to the landfills. Currently, only 13% of the waste in Johannesburg undergoes recycling, indicating that the combined efforts of all landfills result in recycling less waste than they generate.
How much waste does the city produce?
The volume of waste generated by the residents of the city has increased significantly. With an increasing monthly population of 3000-5000 people every month, according to Sun in an interview with the Daily Maverick, more waste is yet to be generated. This means that as more people come into the city, the consumption of products and use of resources increases, thus, more waste is generated into the city.
The Association for Water and Rural Development, which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to implementing research-driven, multidisciplinary projects and addresses issues of sustainability, conducted a study in 2019. It found that, “every single person (in South Africa) generates up to 2,5 kilograms of waste per day, depending on his or her level of income.” The CoJ collects approximately 6000 tonnes of waste every single day.
This tells us that increased waste production can lead to environmental issues, such as land and water pollution, if waste is not managed properly. It can also pose health risks, as improper disposal and open dumping can lead to the spread of diseases and contamination of air and water sources. Extensive waste generation can also result in increased economic costs for waste collection and disposal.
The New York State Department of Health states that, “Landfill gas contains many different gases. Methane and carbon dioxide makes up 90 to 98% of landfill gas. The remaining 2 to 10% includes nitrogen, oxygen, ammonia, sulfides, hydrogen and various other gases. Landfill gases are produced when bacteria break down organic waste.”
Simply put, high greenhouse gas emissions signify an increased release of gases like carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming and climate change. This amplifies the carbon footprint, as it measures one’s environmental impact in terms of emissions. A high carbon footprint indicates greater environmental harm, requiring urgent reduction efforts for sustainability.
According to Pikitup, the city produces over 1.4 million tons of waste per year, and this excludes illegal dumping.
The recycling area adjacent to the Booysen community serves as a processing hub. Here waste pickers smash, compress and dampen recyclables before transporting these processed materials to recycling entities. Photo: Ayanda MgwenyaWaste pickers at Robinson landfill look through waste after a garbage truck disposes waste at Robinsons landfill. Photo: Ayanda Mgwenya
Radingoana said that there are no machines for processing domestic waste, but only crushers, which is the equipment used to recycle builders’ rubble. Which means that the majority of the food scraps go to the landfill. When a landfill contains higher amounts of organic waste, it results in increased production of landfill gases.
The landfill (Robinsons Deep) depends on private recycling companies, which recycle waste. These companies select the waste they want and handle the sorting themselves. Any waste they reject is transported back to the landfill site by Pikitup trucks.
Licensing a new landfill
Securing a new landfill site is a process that requires extensive regulation and. Radingoana said, “the process of applying for a permit takes plus-minus two years.” He told Wits Vuvuzela that Robinson Deep bought land next to it, to extend the life of the existing landfill to avoid applying for decommissioning. He said that they have started the process of applying for a permit for the new site because getting a permit after decommissioning is not easy and are doing this before they reach the capacity of 25 000 000m3.
“Spokesperson of Pikitup, Muzi Mkhwanazu said, “Pikitup and the City are involved in discussion for the purchase of land for future airspace. Phase 1 of the Feasibility studies is completed. The site identified is suitable for landfilling and the discussions with the City [of Joburg] for the release of land has been favourably concluded.”
The construction of a landfill itself is another process altogether. Radingoana claims that the cost of constructing a new site with a lifespan of over 20 years (such as Robinson Deep) is R200 million and can take more than five years for it to start operating.
The aim is to ensure that the new land is secured and ready for the expansion of the existing landfill before Robinson Deep runs out of airspace to avoid being non-compliant, and spaceless for additional waste.
License compliance: Waste Pickers at the landfill
Siyabonga Zungu, a frequent waste picker at Robinson Deep said, “I come here almost every day, this is how I make a living.” He said that he stays at the community of Booysen (which is next to the landfill) with his girlfriend whom he met two years ago and is also waste picker. He told Wits Vuvuzela that he has been a waste reclaimer for six years now and moves around in various dumps to collect waste and take it to entities that are looking for recyclables. He said that he has been reclaiming waste at Robinson for two years and six months.
“It very dangerous to do this kind of work, sometimes fights would start randomly because people steal other people’s waste here inside the landfill then things would just get out of hand.” He told Wits Vuvuzela that his family in Kwazulu-Natal (KZN) where he comes from does not know that he is a waste picker. He told them that he is an entrepreneur that sells electrical equipment like earphones and phone chargers.
The National Environmental Management: Waste Act of 2008 is responsible for ensuring and regulating that the national standards of waste management such as licensing, contaminated land restoration, waste information systems, compliance and enforcement are well reinforced.
This means that landfill owners have to secure a waste management license in order to fully function with well-managed facilities, strict monitoring and a properly engineered site.
According to Radingoana, “The waste pickers are there [at Robinsons Deep] illegally; in terms of our license, they are not supposed to be there.”
The Minimum Requirements for Waste Disposal by Landfill, Second Edition 1998, issued by the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, discourages waste reclamation at landfill sites. If a license holder chooses to permit controlled reclamation at a general waste disposal site, they must request permission either when applying for their waste management license or by amending an existing permit/license.
The operation of landfills involves various expenses related to construction, operation, maintenance, compliance, and long-term care.
Financial resources are essential to ensure that landfills function safely, environmentally responsibly, and in accordance with regulations. Radiongoana said that the City budgets R100 million for the four operating landfills in total, which means that Robinson receives R25 million every year, and “is not enough” to effectively ensure that all the operations run smoothly.
Homes at the community of Booysen built from old planks, paper, plastic and sail covers. Photo by: Ayanda Mgwenya
The houses at the community of Booysen not far from the Robinsons landfill. Photo by: Ayanda Mgwenya
The community comprises immigrants from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, Malawi and Zambia. The community also houses immigrants who come from different parts of the country. Photo by: Ayanda Mgwenya
New developments
Radingoana said that he is currently in the process of refurbishing a structure at Robinsons Deep which he calls Material Recovery Facility (MRF) where the sorting of waste will take place. He said, “any truck that goes into the landfill, must first go dump waste at MRF where the sorting will be done in order to recover raw material.” He said anything that will not be unrecyclable or non-material will go to landfill site to be buried.
The law stipulates that a landfill has to be 500 kilometers away from the residents. However, as the city develops, more people come into the city, some moving towards the outskirts of the city and reaching even the industrialised areas of the city which were not initially intended for communities.
Johannesburg faces a looming landfill crisis, with existing sites nearing capacity. Despite efforts by Pikitup and regulations in place, waste generation outpaces recycling. The city urgently needs new landfill space, highlighting the complex challenges of waste management in a rapidly growing urban landscape.
FEATURED IMAGE: A Pikitup truck leaves Robinsons landfill after disposing some of Johannesburg’s waste. Photo by: Ayanda Mgwenya
As the world creeps closer to climate crisis D-day, will a moo-ve to a plant-based diet really make a difference?
Old MacDonald had a farm, Ee i ee i oh… And on his farm he had some cows, Ee i ee i oh. With drastic effects on land here, and drastic effects on air there… Here some CO2, there some methane too, everywhere a moo-moo. Old MacDonald had a farm, Ee i ee i oooh.
Nursery rhymes, they say, have hidden meanings. They are a form of satire; folk songs used to tell, subversively, tales of historical events and the (often) bad people who brought them on. Are these going to be the songs we share with the children of our questionable future? The truth is, no run-on line or rhyming couplet will ever be able to depict the devastation we see today in the throes of climate change
There can be no denying that planet earth is on fire. Eye-witness accounts of the devastation caused by the crisis are becoming more numerous by the day. Floods, cyclones, tornadoes, extreme weather patterns, famine, drought and increasing species extinction are all in evidence. In 2022 we are living in what climate scientists decades ago painted as a worst-case scenario.
To the average person, assuming responsibility in tackling the issue can be overwhelming. Something every individual on the planet shares is the need for food. What people are consuming, however, has and will continue to have a disastrous effect. It is here the solution may lie. If every individual can take responsibility for their eating habits and switch to a more climate-friendly diet, a real difference might be viable.
“I do not think the answer is in getting the big guys to change. People need to stop being passive consumers,” says food systems researcher and business strategist Michele Sohn. Therefore one must ask: ”To eat the cow, or not to eat the cow?”
Why the cow? For Old MacDonald, back in pre-industrial days, cattle and other livestock used for food may not have been the biggest issue, but in the 21st century they seem to be a leading cause of climate change. A 2009 study by Scientific American concluded: “Worldwide meat production (beef, chicken and pork) emits more atmospheric greenhouse gases than do all forms of global transportation or industrial processes.” A study published in 2013 in the South African Journal of Animal Science said, “Cattle are a major source of methane emissions from the livestock sector in South Africa, contributing approximately 72.6% of the total livestock greenhouse gas emissions.”
The livestock greenhouse effect occurs in two ways. The first is in their feed, which requires year-round cultivation of land. This means trees and grasses that absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) are not given a chance to be grown. The second is the methane released by the animals in their waste and as they digest their food.
The more humans consume these animals and their products, the greater the demand to raise and farm them, which leads to higher need for land. In a 2018 study by Joseph Poore and Thomas Nemecek, an estimation of emission per serving of different foods was made, and the results were staggering. Beef has the biggest carbon footprint, while non-animal products such as beans and nuts seem to have little to no emission.
conducted a two-week experiment that tracked emissions from vegans, vegetarians and omnivores. The results revealed that: vegan CO2e emissions per week were 9.9kg (equivalent to 39.6km driven in a petrol-powered car, or 1 204 smartphones charged); vegetarian CO2e emissions per week were 16.9kg (67.4km driven in a petrol-powered car, or 2 056 smartphones charged); and omnivore CO2e emissions per week were 48.9kg (194.7km driven in a petrol-powered car, or 5 948 smartphones charged).
Software developer and vegan Hanno Brink told Wits Vuvuzela, “I always used to think vegans were people who ‘cannot face the real world’, but I now realise I was the one not facing the brutal reality of the consequences of my actions.”
It seems this food choice is attached to a lot more than some animal-loving form of protest. The diet holds real benefits environmentally, financially and nutritionally, but how viable is it in South Africa?
There has been a rise in vegan culture in South Africa over the past few years and plant-based brands are pulling in significant numbers in the South African market. South Africa is one of the top 30 countries where veganism is most popular, according to Google trends. According to Uber Eats, the country is fifth largest in the world in vegan takeaway orders.
A 2021 study conducted in the journal of Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systemsfound the likelihood of consumers in South Africa adopting plant-based and cultivated meat as a pathway to a healthy, sustainable and equitable food supply was quite high. Sixty percent of born-frees, 62% of millennials and 53% of Gen X were highly likely to purchase plant-based meat. Fifty-five percent of born-frees, 55% of millennials and 46% of Gen X were highly likely to purchase cultivated meat. The study concluded, “Both plant-based and cultivated meat could be viable market-based options for improving the food system in South Africa.”
From an economic perspective, being vegan is not so straight-forward. In South Africa food security is a daunting issue. According to a 2020 report by Stats SA, nearly 23,6% of South Africans had moderate to severe food insecurity, while almost 14,9% experienced severe food insecurity. Jessica Lazar, a registered dietitian at The Green Dietitian, told Wits Vuvuzela, “If someone is food insecure and they are vulnerable to malnutrition, they do not have a choice over what they eat; they can only eat what is available and affordable to them. We need to work to combat food security and malnutrition before we can have the privilege to decide what type of diet we want to live by, because it really is a privilege.”
Veganism has been through a bit of a greenwash over the past few decades. What was initially a clean and relatively cheap lifestyle turned into “a trend that companies and brands jumped on and used as a marketing tool”. Lazar says a lot of products are expensive, but a basic vegan diet made up of grains, fruits, vegetables and oils is not expensive; it is actually cheaper than animal products.
“I always used to think vegans were people who ‘cannot face the real world’, but I now realise I was the one not facing the brutal reality of the consequences of my actions.”
Nutrition-wise, Lazar says veganism can be a helpful diet meeting all nutritional needs. “I do not think it’s valid to say veganism is the healthiest or is healthier than any other diet patterns, but it is among the healthiest,” she says. “Cutting down animal products and replacing them with more plant food is a healthy way to live.”
Dalya Gerson, also a registered dietitian, disagrees. “You are not really living a healthy lifestyle being a vegan because you are losing out on the key nutrients (specifically B12, which can be found only in animal products, fortified foods and supplements) that you should be getting,” Gerson says. ”I would not necessarily say a vegan diet is healthier than a Mediterranean diet.”
Arabella Parkinson, who has a master’s in sustainable development and is a food consultant and vegan chef, told Wits Vuvuzela, “I am not an advocate of a fully vegan diet, because a lot of the time people tend to sacrifice the healthier side of things because veganism is so strict, people tend to eat junk food based on the fact that its vegan rather than it being healthy. It is a very strict way of eating, and to do it properly you need a lot of time, energy resources and access to a variety of healthy, good food.”
Most of the people Wits Vuvuzela spoke to mentioned culture as a point of contention. Food is an emotional aspect of people’s lives and it is often difficult for people to change the way they eat, especially when it is embedded in indigenous cultures, says Parkinson. Lazar adds, “We need to respect culture specifically around food. Usually meats are used for celebrations, not daily consumption. A solution could be if we say, ‘change your daily diets and leave the meat for the bigger events’.” She notes, however, that a plant-based diet is nothing new to many Africans, who for centuries have been living off fruit- and vegetable-bearing lands.
From an agricultural perspective, Heinz Meissner, an adviser to the dairy and meat industries, told Mail & Guardian in a 2019 article that South Africa is complex when it comes to production of fruit and vegetables. “Just 12% of the country has the right mixture of soil and water to grow crops, whereas livestock can live on marginal land,” he says. A lot of water is mostly used for high-value crops such as grapes, citrus, avocados, nuts and blueberries, and these are usually exported overseas. Meissner says the resources needed for optimal crop growth that would suit veganism throughout the country ”will not be used for grains, vegetables and fruit production to feed the population”.
The department of agriculture also seems to side with the meat. In June 2022 it threatened the vegan industry with a ban and seizure of all foodstuffs not in line with Agricultural Product Standards Act regulations. This includes that if it is not processed meat in a packet, it cannot be labelled as such. This caused a stir, as renaming products would have been economically crippling to producers, Daily Maverick reported.
South Africa’s relationship with the meat industry is very complicated, says Parkinson. “The meat and dairy industries are huge and subsidised and have a lot of bargaining power,” she says. In a 2022 op-ed for Daily Maverick, Jason Bell, a researcher at the Centre for Competition Regulation and Economic Development, says, “The market power that [the meat and dairy] industries possess was facilitated and has continued to be supported by government subsidies, protection and support to ensure that these industries survive competition and shocks.” He adds that the vegan industry’s growth threatens the meat and dairy industries’ market power; thus, regulations such as that mentioned above were implemented.
Parkinson tells Wits Vuvuzela it is about planting and producing fruit, vegetables and grains that are seasonal and indigenous to the country. She says plants such as sorghum and beans, which are superfoods, are highly nutritious, resilient to terrain and climate, affordable to grow and buy and do well with little water.
To make a change we must learn to eat the rainbow. We don’t need to buy expensive fruits and vegetables, even growing your own garden can make a massive difference. Photo: Elishevah Bome
Sohn says if government and farming corporations do not come to the party, the South African public can and must take it into their own hands: “It’s about consumers becoming producers. Everyone should grow something, either in their own backyard or in a community garden.” According to Stats SA, fewer than 20% of households were involved in agricultural production of food between 2017 and 2020. Sohn further says, “We need more urban farmers to grow organic food close to where people live, and to buy from small local farmers.”
Parkinson and Sohn bring up regenerative growing practices. “If the farming sectors could shift the way they produce the meat to [these] farming techniques, they can also have a positive impact on reducing the effects of climate change,” says Parkinson, adding that the meat and dairy farming industries will not just disappear. With regenerative farming, animals graze in rotation and help pull carbon back into soil. This strengthens resilience against climate change, droughts and floods. By doing so, meat will be produced in a better way.
So to the question of ”to eat the cow or to not eat the cow”, it can be derived from the people Wits Vuvuzela consulted that there is no clear answer. What is clear, however, is that climate change is exacerbated by the meat and dairy industries. Lazar says, “At the end of the day we cannot get everyone to be vegan, but if one million people cut down on meat it will make more impact than if a couple of hundred thousand go fully vegan.”
Parkinson echoes this, saying that two to three percent of South Africans are vegan and the global trends of meat consumption are growing only in lower-income countries. ”I believe we do not need everyone to be vegan, but we do need people to eat less meat,’’ she says. She encourages campaigns such as Meat Free Monday and Sustainable Sunday.
Sohn says, ”The trick is not to be too purist about it; to eat beyond labels. Eat more veg, more fruit, less chemicals, less preservatives and, if possible, less meat.’’
Old MacDonald had a farm, Ee i ee i oh. And on his farm he had some cows, Ee i ee i oh. With some moderation here and a meat-free Monday there, here some fruit, there some veg, now a controlled moo-moo… Old MacDonald may still have a farm in 2030, Ee i ee i oh.
FEATURED IMAGE: The growth of the vegan industry in South Africa may be a solution to the climate crisis, but is cutting out the cow the remedy? Photo: Elishevah Bome
Experts say the developed world is mostly to blame for climate change, and with global attempts to mitigate this crisis South Africa’s solution and profits cannot come at the cost of those living close to platinum mines.
A long-standing water crisis in Johannesburg affecting areas such as Brixton, Hursthill and Crosby has resulted in residents being dependent on roaming water tanks and filling up buckets with water from taps for their daily activities.
On September 26, 2022, Johannesburg Water released a media statement that announced a power failure at Rand Water’s purification works. High demand for water resulted in Johannesburg Water’s infrastructure being at critically low levels as storage capacity decreased from 52% to 38%. Rand Water, being a bulk supplier to Johannesburg Water, announced stage-two water restrictions in Gauteng on October 4, 2022.
The Brixton reservoir supplies water to Brixton and Mayfair West. When there is little water in this reservoir, these two areas suffer. Wumi Adekunle, a hair stylist from Brixton, said her business is negatively affected when there is a shortage of water. “When the client comes, you [cannot] wash their hair. You [cannot] do anything, even to relax the hair. You [have] to use water to rinse the hair and you have to rinse thoroughly,” she said.
Adekunle added that when there is no water, she loses out on generating profit. When a roaming water tank is dispatched to the area, Adekunle gathers two buckets of water. She explained that this process is long and inconvenient.
Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital in Coronationville, near Brixton, is also hit by water scarcity. The acting CEO of the hospital, Dr Arthur Manning, said that due to water shortages the hospital has had a problem with flushing toilets. “There has been limited access to flushing toilets in the outpatient sections. This has caused inconvenience as staff and patients were directed to other facilities to use toilets. Manual flushing of toilets using buckets was required in a small section of the hospital.”
Despite this inconvenience, Manning said the hospital has been supplied with water tankers from Johannesburg Water and the hospital makes use of an on-site borehole. In addition, the hospital has received donations of water. Manning also said, “Portable toilets were hired for usage in some patient areas. The estimated cost of contingency plans amounts to R100 000.”
A resident of Mayfair West, Shazia Mamdoo, expressed her concerns about the water crisis. Mamdoo said water shortages had been occurring for more than five years in the area. She also stated that she would boil water to wash dishes and take baths. She said boiling water has an impact on their electricity bill, due to increased usage of the kettle. In relation to taking baths, Mamdoo’s husband, Nazeer Mamdoo, usually wakes up each day at 5am but has to wake an hour earlier to boil water and bath in a bucket to save water. Shazia’s daughter, Sumaya Mamdoo, said she would take her baths at the homes of family members with adequate water supply.
A man washes his hands at a tap in Crosby, Johannesburg. Photo: Busisiwe Mdluli
To cope with water scarcity, Shazia Mamdoo installed a Jojo tank in her yard. The cost of a Jojo tank ranges between R2 000 and R5 000 and an additional expense may come from installing the tank and plumbing it. Mamdoo said although the tank may not necessarily be affordable to some, it may grant one “peace of mind”. Mamdoo is also assisted by community WhatsApp groups that communicate when water shortages will occur, and access to boreholes and roaming water tanks. Before water shortages occur, Mamdoo fills buckets of water from the tap for domestic use, as water from a Jojo tank collects rainwater that cannot be used for drinking and food preparation.
There are various contributing factors to water scarcity, and high demand is one of them. Mamdoo believes two contributing factors that result in water scarcity are overpopulation and underdeveloped infrastructure. In Mayfair West, Mamdoo said, there are many people living on one property. Some homeowners have built rooms on their property and rented them out. This has caused a strain on the scarce water resource. Mamdoo said, “The infrastructure has not been upgraded with the population in this area…. If there was a much bigger system, a holding system to hold the water, [the issue would not be so dire].”
Johannesburg Water has established projects to address the water crisis in Brixton, Hursthill and Crosby. These include a new Brixton reservoir, tower and pump station, new Rand Water supply line, reconfiguration of the Crosby reservoir and a new Crosby pump station. According to the projects and infrastructure manager at Johannesburg Water, Nqobezitha Ndimande, these projects may take about four years to complete. The estimated cost of the projects is R326 million.
The councillor for Brixton, Hursthill and Crosby, Bridget Steer, said the implementation of new reservoirs is “something that we have been fighting for since 2016. These projects to augment supply to [these areas] are long overdue.”
A borehole and water tank in Crosby, Johannesburg provide water for residents during water shortages. Photo: Busisiwe Mdluli.
The spokesperson for the department of water and sanitation, Sputnik Ratau, argued that the department and government are trying by all means to address water scarcity in South Africa. He said the government is trying to raise the walls of dams to increase storage capacity and provide more water to citizens. According to Ratau, the dams that are yet to see an increase in their wall structure include Hazelmere Dam, Tzaneen Dam and Clanwilliam Dam.
Ratau said the government is looking at the process of desalination. Desalination is the process of removing salt from oceans so that individuals may be able to use the water for drinking purposes, but the process is costly.
As stated previously, water scarcity has a variety of contributing factors and may also be caused by climate change, which is a result of a large increase of greenhouse gases trapping heat in the earth’s atmosphere. The increase of heat warms the earth in an unnatural way, which ultimately alters weather patterns over a long period of time (Joubert 2008 and Matuszewska 2009).
Climate change is a global phenomenon, but many do not understand the term, along with the consequences associated with it. Associate professor of physical geography in the school of geography, archaeology and environmental studies, Jennifer Fitchett, said climate change is often viewed as a future problem. She said climate change is not publicised sufficiently or presented to the public in a manner that is understandable.
“There has been limited access to flushing toilets in the outpatient sections. This has caused inconvenience as staff and patients were directed to other facilities to use toilets. Manual flushing of toilets using buckets was required in a small section of the hospital.”
Fitchett said only a small proportion of climate change is included in geography school textbooks. She believes a way to educate people about climate change would be through expanding information about climate change and its consequences more extensively in the school curriculum. “If we can weave [climate change] into all of our school curriculums, [students can learn about climate change] in English [if] they are reading stories that involve climate. In Mathematics [they can] solve problems that involve climate change. That would be a very good way to ensure there is a more educated population.”
The relationship between climate change and water scarcity is established through rising temperatures, evaporation and low precipitation. When there are extremely high temperatures, water evaporates at a much quicker speed and water may be lost. Ratau said, “[South African] dams are very flat and wide so the surfaces lend themselves to a high rate of evaporation that unfortunately is something we should live with. The issue of climate change is a reality.”
Spring has sprung in South Africa and the country has experienced heat waves in all provinces. According to Accuweather (2022), in the month of October 2022, maximum temperatures in all provinces range from 25°C to 38°C. In November 2022, maximum temperatures are expected to range between 26°C and 34°C. In December 2022, maximum temperatures are expected to range from 26°C to 35°C in all provinces. Provinces with the highest temperatures include Limpopo, Northern Cape, Free State, North West and Mpumalanga. “When you have a heat wave, you are going to have huge demand because people need water to cool down,” Ratau said.
Hardy (2003) predicted that rising temperatures and low levels of precipitation may cause water scarcity or shortages. Moreover, climate change may influence the supply of water as changes in the earth’s climate may essentially alter the availability of usable water. For example, in a case of flooding water may be contaminated with bacteria, industrial or agricultural waste, sewage and chemicals (Vermont department of health, 2022).
Water is a critical element of life. Water scarcity may result in a number of consequences, such as the demise of fauna and flora, dehydration of humans, reduced sanitation, food supply and agriculture, economic instability as businesses require water for their daily operations and conflict among individuals may arise for the scarce commodity. According to Unicef (2020), approximately four billion people experience severe water scarcity for one month each year and half of the world’s population could be residing in regions that experience water scarcity as early as the year 2025.
In Johannesburg, daily minimum and maximum temperatures are predicted to increase between 2046 and 2065. Minimum temperatures from January and March are predicted to increase to 2-2,7°C, whereas minimum temperatures form April to December are expected to increase to 3,5°C (City of Johannesburg 2008, Golder Associates Africa 2008 and Matuszewska 2009). From 2070 to 2100, minimum summer temperatures will increase between 1 and 3°C whereas minimum winter temperatures will increase between 1 and 2°C. Maximum summer temperatures are likely to increase between 3 and 4°C and maximum winter temperatures between 2 and 4°C.
Rainfall patterns between 2070 and 2100 for Johannesburg are predicted to increase by 20% between December and February. However, rainfall between March and May is likely to decrease by approximately 30%. Rainfall between June and August could possibly increase by 5-10mm. September may experience a decrease in rainfall of between 40% and 80%. However, an increase of 40% may happen in November (City of Johannesburg 2008, Golder Associates Africa 2008, Matuszewska 2009).
Water scarcity in South Africa is a critical issue that has plagued the country, but what can contribute to the detriment of this already strained resource is water pollution. Dr Heidi Richards, a director at the Centre for Water Research and Development at Wits University, believes water scarcity can be addressed through tackling pollution, because it is costly for heavily polluted water to be treated. Richards said there is a large number of informal settlements along the edges of river systems. These river systems include the Jukskei River and Hennops River in Johannesburg. According to News 24 (2019), The Jukskei is heavily polluted with bacteria that causes cholera, plastics, metal and rubber. The Hennops River was found to also have plastics, condoms, bags, beer crates and dirty nappies (Infrastructure News 2020). Richards said there is a lack of sanitation systems in these informal settlements that would serve to remove solid waste. She also said, “When people have no other option, unfortunately, they start illegally dumping and throwing their waste into the river because it is the easiest way. [Communities] need municipalities and local government structures to come on board. Our national department should be aware of this so that people have alternatives [to dispose of waste].”
Richards also said, “Pollution on a larger scale is the cause of climate change [due to] gasses being produced during these manufacturing processes and burning of fuels.” She said various individuals are unaware of the impacts of pollution, therefore people need to be educated about it through educational systems. She said Wits needs to conduct more outreach campaigns in schools that are centred on pollution. This may help students understand the consequences of pollution extensively and what can be done to prevent pollution.
As a measure to tackle water scarcity, Ratau encouraged South Africans to stop polluting water. He also said the department of water and sanitation intends to hold people to account for polluting water. People may be held accountable by facing criminal charges. In an effort to govern the use of water, Ratau said, water licenses may be issued to individuals who use large amounts of water for economic gain. This could regulate the amount of water being used. An additional solution that may also be critical is to educate individuals about climate change, water scarcity and the importance of saving water.
FEATURED IMAGE: Residents of Crosby collect water from a tap during one of Johannesburg’s water shortages. Photo: Busisiwe Mdluli
Dump sites come back to bite the residents of Alexandra, north of Johannesburg, as air-borne and vector-borne diseases rise and living conditions deteriorate.
Construction rubble piled up in a heap,
disused household items and office furniture,
branded cardboards ripped out of their commercial life,
crinkled-up paper carrying designs of ink from one end to another.
Empty takeaway containers greased with oil from an indulged meal,
plastic and glass bottles weighted by the last drops of fizzy beverages in all their funky colours.
All of this basking in the sun as though waiting to restore their purpose…
This is and has been the back-yard view of thousands of residents living in Alexandra township, proudly referred to as Alex or Gomora, north of Johannesburg, for several years. Within 10 minutes of riding the Gautrain from Park Station, many privileged people overlook this toxic wasteland from the comfort of an air-conditioned express commuter train shunting through a system worth more than R30 billion.
If lucky, one can even spot an element of the waste cycle in action. It’s either a resident throwing out a bucket filled with rubbish without a second thought, or a truck offloading construction rubble and industry debris right outside the rusty shacks as children, some as young as two years old, play on the dumps.
Depending on what time of day it is, one could also watch as a scattered group of recyclers sifts through waste to collect what will be their bread and butter at the end of the week or month. These are normalised day-to-day activities in the informal settlements of Setswetla, Jukskei View and the new EFF settlement.
The dire state of dump-living
Densely packed shacks in these settlements now form a guard of honour on the banks of the waste-clogged Jukskei, the narrow 50km-long river feeding the Hartbeespoort dam in North West. Nurtured by apartheid spatial planning, Sandton (Africa’s richest square mile) neighbours one of the continent’s poorest communities, while the ever growing waste in illegal dumping sites remains unacknowledged. An area of 144km2 in Sandton is home to 220 000 people, as found by the 2011 census report, while 180 000 people occupy the land in Alex’s 6.8km2 – which means every square kilometre houses about 26 000 people. Simply put, one Sandton resident has the same sized space as 17 Alex residents.
“When we started working on cleaning the river and its banks in August 2021, the river was flowing. It does not anymore [it’s clogged with rubbish].”
This inequality, South African human rights commissioner Philile Ntuli contends, is “continually reproduced and sustained [by] the apartheid social and political order [as] the hostels, ghettos and tight corners are an endless confrontation with colonial perceptions of the incompetence and sub-humanity of African people”. To date, the sub-humanity Ntuli speaks of explicitly plays out in two ways: trucks unloading building rubble right outside people’s houses in Alex, when the nearest construction site from which it is collected is in Sandton; and the multitude of municipal service shortcomings. These shortcomings include raw sewage, poor sanitation, inadequate housing and abundant refuse that is neither collected nor catered for with the provision of refuse bags and containers. This is according to a SA Human Rights Commission report prompted by the township’s “devastating” service delivery protests in 2019.
During these protests, former Gauteng premier David Makhura promised to urgently stop the building of “illegal structures” – people’s houses being made of concrete palisades or rusty corrugated metal sheets. Typically, this call for an urgent halt to illegal land occupation was not accompanied by strategies for the housing backlog, which has persisted since the early 2000s when the township began seeing an influx of residents.
Not only have things remained largely unchanged, but more people have occupied the vacant land near illegal dumping sites. This has brought on the growth of the illegal dumping economy. On the day Wits Vuvuzela visited the area in October 2022, truckers could be seen unloading waste and then paying an unemployed male resident R50 to unpack the waste, shovel it out and dump it in the Jukskei River. All the while, patient waste recyclers watched, marking their next haul which they would attempt to rescue from drowning.
The newest settlement in Alexandra stretches across the river from Jukskei View. Photo: Keamogetswe Matlala
Making a living from the dump
For waste recycler Seijo Joaquim-Neves, collecting plastic bottles from the riverbank dumps is “ukukhereza (hustling)”. “Ngikala amasaka ngenyanga. iR2 000 ngiyay’thola noma ngikhereze kahle (I recycle about four sacks a month. I earn R2 000 when I say I’ve hustled well)”, the Mozambican national said. From his earnings, Joaquim-Neves is able to “bhatal’irent, theng’ukudla (pay rent, buy food)” and “qash’imoto (hire a van to transport his bottle-filled sack to the recycling depot)” for R200. Although he collects a haul of waste every weekday on the Jukskei banks, Joaquim-Neves does not work oblivious to the health threats. He wears a face mask and hand gloves to protect himself from microorganisms that could potentially carry viruses. Less than a year since he took a leap into waste recycling, the young recycler admits this is a lucrative livelihood in Alex.
It is not only plastic bottles that carry the livelihoods of Alex residents. Used bricks are also recycled in the bid to put food on the table. Bongiwe Msimanga collects such bricks to sell at R1 each to people to build houses within the informal settlements that sprout like mushrooms across the township. She says, “Work is scarce and food is expensive.” The 50-year-old mother of one claims that living in Jukskei View is cheaper and she has easier access to the dump site from which she makes a living. Although dumped bricks alleviate the struggle of raising her now 21-year-old child, Msimanga admits it was wrong of them to occupy land so close to the Jukskei River and contribute to its dire state with illegal dumping.
Seeing that people rely heavily on these dump sites to put food on their tables, will illegal dumping ever end in this community?
Although he is deeply involved in efforts to ensure an end to it, chairperson of the Alex Water and Sanitation Forum, Janky Matlala, admits the problem of illegal dumping is getting out of hand. “When we started working on cleaning the river and its banks in August 2021, the river was flowing. It does not anymore [it’s clogged with rubbish],” he says. Matlala adds that there is still a lot to be done, in addition to their cleaning project (Water Warriors), which runs for two to three days each week at seven points of the river cursed with dump banks.
The health effects of living near a dump site
In a forum lecture titled ‘Climate change: the greatest global health threat of the 21st century’, Stellenbosch University head of the family and emergency medicine department, Professor Bob Mash, tabled pollution, biodiversity loss and climate change under the ecological drivers of the growing burden of diseases on the country’s healthcare services. The possible causes of this burden include compromised air quality, no access to fresh water, infectious disease exposures and natural hazards, while factors mediating it are, but not limited to, governance as well as the culture and behaviour of a community. Unlike many theoretical assertions, this tabulation is evident.
Given the fact that informal settlements are hardly ”recognised” by municipalities because the residents are considered illegal occupants, they do not receive basic services such as electricity, water supply and sewage systems. As a result, it is normal to have residents of Jukskei View resorting to relieving themselves in buckets and throwing the waste into the river. Meanwhile, in the new EFF settlement, a woman with a crying child strapped to her back cooks pap on an open fire near that same river bank. It is the only space where she can do this, as shacks are packed so close to each other. This screams ”health hazard”. This not only explains why, in the afternoon, it starts smelling like “sun-baked faeces that have dried up after rain has fallen,” as Msimanga describes it, but also why another resident, Shelly Mohale, battles so much with house flies. Mohale says she has to clean pots right after cooking and transfer the contents to plastic containers to avoid having house flies contaminate the food.
Commonly known as “filth flies” for their infamous diet, which includes animal waste, faeces and rotting organic waste, these flies release pathogens – microorganisms categorised as viruses, parasites, worms and bacteria that cause diseases and illnesses. These range from common cold, flu, meningitis and measles to yellow fever. A senior health sciences student from Sefako Makgatho University, Lighton Sombane, confirmed that these ailments (together with typhoid fever, cholera and tuberculosis) are a few of the 65 diseases flies can transmit to humans. It is therefore reasonable to attribute this to what another Alex resident, Jeffrey Mashigo, whose gate is less than seven metres away from the dump banks, says is an all-year-round flu. “They [children] always have the flu and taking them to the clinic doesn’t help because every two weeks, the flu comes back,” the father of four said. Since warm temperatures exacerbate house flies, Gauteng’s frequent heat waves have residents needing to close the doors and windows of their homes to avoid the flies, hindering ventilation in the process.
According to Mashigo, it becomes unbearable at around 3pm, when the smell of all the dumps becomes worse. At this point in the waste cycle, the greenhouse effect takes charge as a consequence of gases from the dumping contents such as methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide concentrating in the atmosphere. As found by the Natural Resources Defense Council, this concentration “absorb[s] sunlight and solar radiation that have bounced off the earth’s surface”. Instead of escaping into space over time, these pollutants “trap the heat and cause the planet to get hotter”.
All the while, people inhale this toxic air and many more residents like Msimanga, who cough all year round, blame the dust that sweeps through their yards for their dry throats. Even though carbon dioxide is the most common greenhouse gas people are generally exposed to, research that nitrous oxide is 300 times more potent as it depletes the ozone layer, exposing humans to UV radiation which could potentially cause skin cancer and permanent damage to eyes. Additionally, “UV radiation causes a decrease in immunity and makes the body more susceptible to infection with viruses or parasites,” says environmental journalist Sabrina Shankman. Nitrous oxide can also live for an average of 114 years in the atmosphere. Methane, on the other hand, is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide, according to the United Nations environment programme, and is naturally released by decomposition, a common dump feature. It also reduces the amount of oxygen available for people to inhale, consequently causing headaches, vision problems, nausea and a change in heart rate. Although these were not revealed in interviews with Alexandra residents, the potential is not ruled out.
In some instances, as accounted for by an academic look into the effects of landfill human exposure in Thohoyandou, Limpopo, pollutants form acidic moisture in the atmosphere which results in acidic rainfall. Falling victim to this, people stand the risk of “reduced lung function, asthma, ataxia, paralysis, vomiting, emphysema and lung cancer when heavy metals are inhaled or ingested”. As research found illnesses such as high blood pressure and anaemia to be caused by heavy metal pollution, Msimanga’s confusion seemed to have cleared. Before moving to Jukskei View, Msimanga says, she was never as sickly as she is now, with constant foot aches and chronic hypertension.
While cleaning the Jukskei River in Alexandra as part of the Water Warriors’ initiative, Mandla* also collects plastic bottles to cash in at a recycling depot. Photo: Keamogetswe Matlala.
What now?
Without the greenhouse effect, the average temperature of Earth is scientifically proven to dip as low as -18 degrees celsius from 14 degrees celsius. Furthermore, almost four trillion metric tons of ice from glaciers in Antarctica have melted since the 1990s. This is not only a significant loss of the world’s fresh water but also an indication that sea levels are gradually rising. In the next rainfall season, the Jukskei could potentially break its silence by washing away hundreds of homes that stand in its way. The occurrence of devastating floods used to be something far from South Africa’s reality, but it has become evident with floods this year in the coastal provinces – KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Eastern Cape – that they are closer than it was thought.
Water Warriors volunteer Betty Mano, who was born in 1971 and has since lived in Alex to witness the deterioration of it, believes the problem of illegal dumping would not have grown as bad if the government had provided the community with waste containers. Despite the fear that aborted human embryos – the worst ”waste” they have found dumped – would be found more often, Mano says direct human exposure to toxic pollutants would be kept at a minimum.
When you disembark at the Marlboro Gautrain station and walk into the township, you are met with two clean open fields: the Water Warriors’ attempt to put vacant land to good use. In the next few months these fields will become recreational parks, and not places where traditional healers and churches perform their rituals as they were a year ago.
*Not their real name
FEATURED IMAGE: Mandla* fills a sack with recyclables after a day of cleaning the Jukskei River. Photo: Keamogetswe Matlala
Methane and cattle farming go hand in hand as a cause of climate change, but the smaller farms with little impact in the industry are struggling for their survival.
Societal expectations and experiences can often place pressure on people’s relationships. With Valentine’s Day coming up we have asked individuals questions about their views on certain relationship dynamics especially when it comes to the most anticipated day of the year for some lovers, Valentines Day. Viewers shared their beliefs and Siyanda and Katlego talk about […]
