INDEED, the Mandela dumpsite with its daily increasing mound of garbage, and the dangerous health  threat that such poses to residents in the immediate environs and beyond, is in reality a national tragedy, and one which will define the lengthy stewardship of the entire tenure of this City Council. To say that it is unfair for those residents to be made to endure the horrors of the stench is to be generous.
When all is said and done, the responsibility for this sordid situation must be that of the City Council, and its inefficient and visionless management. Surely, the Burrowes’ commission did point out the lack of management strategies and systems in dealing with the numerous problems that have bedevilled the Chief Citizen and City Hall in general.
For all the arguments that have emanated from the Mayor’s office from the inception of this site, I do not recall any that gave an indication that a control mechanism had been put in place. Hence the current chaotic state that now exists.
Now, again, the government has intervened to effect what is hoped, and should be, a final solution to a grave situation. Why have not the Council worked with the relevant Ministry, as its minister inferred, can only be interpreted as defiance of a most stupid kind, with the poor residents being made to suffer continuously.
The impending new facility at Haags Bosch will hopefully bring an end to sixteen years of misery on the part of the residents of that locale. But it is hoped that by such time the current mayor is not at the helm of the Council’s affairs.