Stephan Swanepoel from Cosmos Café in Rabie Street said the ongoing struggle with the dumping site next to his business has been a constant source of stress.Swanepoel has been at the premises for over six years and said the site has been a constant source of headaches.
After the trench was dug, dumping at the site began to get worse, with the metro dumping tar and rubble from road and building sites.“Now we can’t even use our back entrance anymore. We used to use it after hours to access the property, but we can’t get our cars in anymore, and it is not safe because the dumping site hides property from the road,” he said.
He said they went to cut down the trees and remove anything that could be used to climb the wall because the rubble hides the property from the public’s view. Ward councillor David Farquharson said the land belonged to the metro, and was being used by the Roads and Transport Department.Farquharson said the TMPD would be policing illegal traders and illegal dumpers who were taking advantage of the site and creating a larger problem.“But it is a long, complicated issue with many departments having to work together.”