By Farouk Araie
Cape Town - Across the entire nation our cities have become a trash heap where residents continue to dump waste on a never ending scale.
Dirt and waste are infused with undesirable connotations, which can be deeply hurtful. To be connected with dirt is to lose respectability and to lose respectability is to lose class status.
Characteristics of offenders include local residents, contractors and waste removers. The illegal dumping of both industrial and household waste has become a huge environmental problem.
There is blatant evidence of this practice in the form of individuals throwing their trash in streets releasing toxic waste into the environment.
Illegal dumping can impede the natural runoff of water during heavy rain as we enter seasonal downpours. Raw sewage continues to pour into our rivers, streams and beaches.
Illegally dumped garbage can be a horrible eyesore, but it isn’t just unsightly. It is a public health threat, serving as a prime habitat for rodents and mosquitoes that can spread deadly diseases.
Should animals consume waste from illegal dump sites it can cause health complications and even death. Garbage dumped in areas accessible to the public can result in residents being exposed to health and injury risks.
Not to mention the overwhelming stench the garbage generates. Putrid piles of garbage lie all around us. Salient factors are growth, poor urban planning and political dysfunction.
This apocalyptic landscape has become common in our neighbourhoods.The garbage crisis is getting more profound, given the immensity of the illegal dumping of trash.
Vandalism and the dismantling of infrastructure countrywide clearly illustrate that our society has been propelled into a decadent level where civility, sanity, and rule of law cease to exist.
The immense degradation of a once pristine environment is a grim reminder that progress and equality will never be achieved if we resort to dismembering our inner cities in an orgy of pillage and corruption.
The quality of life and progress will suffer immensely by such atrocious behaviour.
Is this our legacy for the next generation?
Cape Times
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