Questions are mounting over who controls the Fifth Avenue municipal waste transfer site in Walmer as residents allege that unidentified people restrict access, often demanding payment and effectively taking over the running of the facility.
The site is often closed without a clear explanation, forcing people to use alternative facilities further away — unless they are willing to pay.
They claim there is a lack of clarity over who is responsible for managing the site, with unknown individuals frequently present onsite directing vehicles.
Residents are often told the Walmer site is full, but for a price, they can dump their refuse.
Payment demands range between R40 and R60, according to residents.
Ward 3 councillor David Hayselden said he had received several complaints.
He had also witnessed the site being cordoned off with traffic cones.
“Some people complained that they had been turned away because the skip was full and they had not been emptied.
“I have forwarded those complaints to the deputy director of public health.
“The problem has been ongoing now for at least a year.
“You cannot get to the bottom of who the people at the pit work for, because sometimes you go there, there are a lot of people standing around and I do not know who they are.
“This then means that residents have to drop their refuse at the Summerstrand pit.
“The person I deal with at the municipality would say they will sort it out on Monday.
“Then Wednesday comes, and the problem is back.
“I do not know if the municipality or the contractor is in charge there, but in my opinion, something is not right,” Hayselden said.
Municipal spokesperson Sithembiso Soyaya said the municipality has started an urgent assessment.
“At this stage, the municipality has not found evidence confirming allegations that residents are being charged unauthorised fees to access the facility.
He said no formal complaints had been recorded.
“However, any resident with information or evidence is encouraged to report it to the municipality so that it can be investigated without delay.
“The municipality is aware of reports of individuals at the facility who may not be officially assigned to the site.
“These reports are being verified through the appropriate operational processes.
“At present, there is no verified evidence that any external organisation has been authorised to manage or operate the facility or that municipal control of the site has been relinquished.
He said a supervisor and four EPWP workers were stationed at the site.
“The municipality has previously received complaints relating to operational matters such as waste removal frequency, overflowing containers during peak periods, and misuse of the facility by businesses.
“These issues have been addressed through ongoing operational interventions and monitoring.”
“The municipality’s position is clear that no person is authorised to collect unauthorised payments at municipal facilities, and no resident may be denied access on that basis. Should any wrongdoing be identified, appropriate disciplinary, corrective, and enforcement action will be taken.”
At the site on Tuesday, cones were spread across the entrance.
About 10 people were working in the area, with others ushering vehicles inside.
At least three vehicles entered the facility, and no-one was seen asking for money.
No municipal officials were spotted.
A large fire was burning, and something exploded.
Workers at the site said they were part of the city’s Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP).
However, they were not wearing branded uniforms. Some wore reflector vests similar to those used by car guards.
The workers denied allegations that access to the site was dependent on payment, saying they merely accepted tips from motorists.
They said one of the biggest challenges was the missing gate, which allowed people to dump refuse illegally during the night.
As a result, workers often arrived in the morning to find the facility overflowing with waste.
To keep the site operational, they said, they had divided themselves into two teams.
One group, made up of women, cleared refuse from the lower section of the site to keep the road open for vehicles, while the other worked to clear the upper section, which was nearing capacity.
A 76-year-old resident who has lived in Walmer for 36 years, said that in the past, when all the skips were full, the facility would be temporarily closed until the refuse was collected and empty skips were brought in.
Now, he said, the people at the site would block the road with cones and only remove them for a price.
“If you give R60 or R40, they will open it, then you go in, and you find all the skips are full.
“So people pay to dump their refuse instead of coming back when the skips are empty.
“Eventually, there is so much rubbish there that even when there is an empty skip, it fills so quickly.”
He said the site was for household and garden refuse.
“Then you find guys who dump buckets of windscreen glass, sometimes tyres, yet [the facility] is not for builders or people redoing their kitchen.
“So the skips get full very quickly with things that should not be taken there.”
He said the site was previously overseen by a single municipal official in a branded uniform, supported by a small team drawn from the local community.
He alleged that workers at the site would sometimes climb onto vehicles and damage refuse bags if they found items they wanted, saying control at the facility had broken down.
“There is a lack of control. There is also a container at the back where they make a huge fire.
“If people steal copper wires, they take them there to burn off the plastic, which produces a lot of smoke,” he said.
The man said that nearby factory owners had complained about black soot from the smoke, which had worsened over time due to limited oversight.
“In the old days, about five or six years ago, there used to be a person in a branded jacket with a shotgun who controlled the area.”
He raised safety concerns, saying children and animals were often present at the site and that inexperienced drivers struggled to navigate the area.
He said an accident had occurred recently when two vehicles collided while being directed by different people.
He compared the situation with the Summerstrand facility, which he said was better controlled though further away.
He alleged that motorists were sometimes stopped at the entrance cones and only allowed through after paying, though he said he had never personally been asked for money.
However, he had witnessed others paying to gain entry.
“The frustration we have is that it is supposed to be safe enough that even your wife can drop off her dead roses there.
“I always have pepper spray. We should not be living in fear,” he said.
Kurt Bruinders said when he went to drop off his refuse on Saturday, he was nearly forced to pay.
He arrived to find a row of traffic cones blocking the entrance to the facility.
A man who appeared to be working at the site then approached him and said the facility was closed because it was full.
“I had worked on Saturday morning. That afternoon was the only opportunity to drop my refuse, only to arrive and be told to go away.
“I actually went inside to look for myself, only to find there was a whole skip that was empty.
“I dumped my rubbish.
“More people then started coming in, because they realised that they could actually get in, because there was space.
“This has been an ongoing problem.
“We kept complaining about how every time we wanted to drop refuse there, it was unavailable for us to use.
“We have never been really told what the reason is for it to keep getting closed,” Bruinders said.
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