We, the residents of Mogale City Local Municipality, hereby petition Mogale City Local Municipality, West Rand District Municipality, Gauteng Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, and the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and Environment to uphold, defend and protect our Constitutional rights, within the legislative precincts and frameworks.

The Constitutional rights of the residents of Mogale City, have been infringed upon due to the exacerbated air pollution stemming from mismanagement of the Luipaardsvlei landfill site which has caused protracted smouldering and release of smoke and fumes due to multiple site fires over the preceding 12 months (June 2023 – July 2024). Specifically, section 24 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 which states the following:

“Environment

24. Everyone has the right—

(a) to an environment that is not harmful to their health or wellbeing; and

(b) to have the environment protected, for the benefit of present and future

generations, through reasonable legislative and other measures that—

(i) prevent pollution and ecological degradation;

(ii) promote conservation; and

(iii) secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while

promoting justifiable economic and social development.”

The noxious and toxic fumes released have dire and potentially deadly consequences on the health of the residents in the surrounding areas, the magnitude thereof spanning many kilometres. Many residents have cited respiratory distress due to the poor air quality stemming from the air pollution due to the fires at the Luipaardsvlei landfill site.

The following legislative frameworks ensure compliance and enforcement as well as consequence management and contingency planning in the event of environmental catastrophes. Disaster Management Act No 57 of 2002, section 49 gives guidance when a disaster is occurring or threatening to occur.

Section 44(b) mandates a municipality to promote an integrated and co-ordinated approach to disaster management in the municipal area, with special emphasis on prevention and mitigation.

We, the undersigned, hereby petition and implore Mogale City Local Municipality to declare a local state of disaster as per section 55 of the Disaster Management Act No.57 of 2002 to sufficiently and effectively deal with the ongoing incidents of air pollution which is a local government matter as per Schedule 4b to the extent set out in sections 155(6)(a) and (7) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.

In terms of Chapter 6 of the Disaster Management Act No. 57 of 2002 as per section 56 and 57 allows for the funding if post-disaster recovery and rehabilitation, subject to section 16 and 25 of the Public Finance Management Act.

In terms of Chapter 7 of the National Environmental Management Act No. 107 of 1998 mandates compliance, enforcement and protection of the environment as per part 1: Environmental hazards, section 28; duty of care and remediation of environmental damage and section 30; control of emergency incidents. Read together with Section 32; legal standing to enforce environmental laws.

Since contingency arrangements by Mogale City Local Municipality, have yielded insufficient mitigation results, and do not adequately deal with the disaster, as is evident by the multiple repeat site fires instances, in excess of 4 incidents (June 2023, August 2023, September 2023,May 2024, July 2024) which have occurred in an annual period, shows that meaningful intervention strategies need to be implemented and enforced to ensure compliance, as well as to ensure constitutional acquiescence.

This petition is presented in terms of Section 17 of the Bill of Rights.