EnviroServ says “No”.
Late Friday afternoon (16th December 2017), EnviroServ filed its long anticipated supplementary affidavit in the interdict proceedings instituted by the UHA NPC.
Amongst the hundreds of pages filed, EnviroServ claims that there are at least 53 other potential sources in the Outer West area, a map reflecting those possible contributors is available at this link.
EnviroServ claims further “now that remediation measures have been implemented the impact does not extend to the areas represented by the NPC’s members.”
EnviroServ claims that its contribution has been reduced from the level of 160ppm (160 000ppb referred to in the documents attached to its affidavit and referred to in the decision of the Minister on 11 December 2017) to 31ppb in December 2017. (It is noteworthy that 31ppb is still some 4 times higher than the WHO odour annoyance guideline of 7ug/m3).
It claims that the Shongweni Landfill and the communities represented by the NPC are in fact being impacted by polluter/s somewhere to the South / South East of the Shongweni landfill. The levels generated by the Shongweni landfill it says can be responsible for no more than an “occasional sore throat” or “watery eyes”.
EnviroServ contends that the UHA NPC represents no more than a “small segment of the community” and that it is increasingly isolated from “the rest of the community”. It contends that those communities closest to the site confirm the problem has “largely been addressed”.
EnviroServ states that most if not all the UHA complaints are not attributable to impacts from the Shongweni site, perhaps this explains why it presented an “external” audit for the year 2016/2017 claiming that there were only 982 complaints received by it for the period November 2016 to October 2017 compared to the in excess of 148 000 for the same period.
EnviroServ wants the Minister’s decision to allow it to commence commercial trading, accepting waste other than liquid, organic waste, and waste containing Sulphur, to be permitted by the discharge of the order granted in UHA NPC’s favour. It does so on the basis that the odour problem has been addressed and there is thus “no reasonable basis” on which to keep the site shut.
The UHA NPC continues to fight for all communities in the upcoming battle. Let all our voices be heard!
