TOXIC WASTE DUMP: Transport Companies Given 21 Days to Evacuate Cargo from Port Elizabeth

The EP Herald reports that Nelson Bay Municipality (Port Elizabeth) has given two transport companies 21 days in which to remove an illegal dump of manganese ore.
The ruling follows complaints from nearby residents in the Swartkops area of Port Elizabeth and relates to a stockpile of export manganese ore intended for the harbour. According to residents the use of the two sites began nine months ago with hundreds of ore-bearing tipper trucks arriving both day and night, causing dust clouds to form and raising health fears.
One of the sites is at the old Swartkops power station and the second at a former truck stop.
There is some dispute over the ownership of the truck stop site, with Transnet saying it is not involved with stockpiling manganese ore there.
The municipality has confirmed that samples taken from the grime coating nearby houses contains manganese.
The question of the continued use of the manganese dump site at the Port Elizabeth harbour continues to cause controversy with the tenants refusing to move to a site at the new port of Ngqura nearby because of the cost of moving and also being required to clean the existing site on departure in terms of environmental laws. At present the harbour facility is the only site in the area with a registration certificate for the purpose.