Stanger - Two prominent KwaDukuza (Stanger) businessmen are in a legal battle in the Durban High Court over an alleged illegal landfill site in an agricultural zone under the KwaDukuza local municipality.
Businessman Sanjeev Roopsingh is taking businessman Eric Joseph Gilbert to court to stop him from operating a landfill site which he claims is devaluing a property which is owned by a trust where he is a sole trustee.
Roopsingh says he had no option but to take Gilbert to court as the ANC-run KwaDukuza local municipality has failed to reign him in, despite repeated letters to them to do so.
In the court case to be heard on June 2, the municipality is cited as the second respondent, while the national Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment is cited as the third respondent.
Roopsignh said no relief is sought against the municipality and the department, but they were merely cited because they have an interest in the matter.
He claims that Gilbert is contravening the by-laws of the municipality by running a landfill site when he should be running a normal dump site.
He said as a result of this, the garbage from Gilbert's activities is now spilling onto his site and he wants the court to compel him to stop as he has not resolved the matter when he asked him to do so.
“I immediately contacted the First Respondent's son, Quinton Gilbert, who manages the operation of the dump site, and informed him of the situation.
“I requested that he immediately stop the illegal dumping on the Trust property and remove all the dump material/waste that had already been dumped thereon.
“I also enquired whether the business had a permit for the operation of a dump site and he informed me that it did not. Quinton and his dad, Eric Gilbert, undertook to either build a boundary wall or erect a fence to demarcate the two properties and prevent the spillage of waste material onto the Trust property.
“Two months elapsed and the first respondent failed to adhere to his undertaking. On May 18, 2021 my attorney sent a letter to Quinton (the Gilberts), requesting that the waste material that had been dumped onto the Trust property be removed within three days, failing which I would proceed with legal action,” Roopsingh claims in his court papers.
Goopsingh said he has exhausted all avenues, which include asking the municipality to act, hence he is now seeking the court’s intervention.
“On August 2, 2022 I conducted a site visit with the appointed detective in the criminal case from Umhlali police station.
“It was apparent that the First Respondent had still not removed the dumped material from the Trust property and was continuing to illegally dump waste material thereon.
“I also noticed that a building was now encroaching upon the Trust property,” he said.
Gilbert is yet to file his own responding papers.
sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za
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