JOHANNESBURG, Gauteng — Illegal dumping in Lombardy Johannesburg has transformed a once-promised community sports ground into a toxic open-air waste site, triggering what residents of Ward 81 are calling a full-blown public health emergency. Families living near the Jukskei River now report waking to thick smoke, the rumble of heavy trucks, and an unbearable stench that has made daily life nearly impossible since the crisis first emerged in 2021.
The site, situated close to the decommissioned Marlboro depot in Lombardy West, has become a magnet for trucks offloading construction rubble, chemical waste, and general refuse. According to community members, the problem intensified dramatically during the recent Pikitup strike, when a severe waste-collection backlog drove even more vehicles to the location. With the nearest operational facility shut down, operators allegedly exploited the vacant sports field as a convenient disposal point, leaving residents to cope with the consequences.
Locals describe being forced to wear face masks inside their own homes to filter out smoke. Laundry hung near windows quickly turns black, and parents express deep fear over the air their children and elderly neighbours are breathing. Water that once ran clear in the Jukskei River has turned green with algae, and the smell of decomposing waste permeates the neighbourhood around the clock. Residents say they have also flagged rising crime and deteriorating basic services, including water and electricity interruptions, as compounding grievances.
Compounding the frustration are allegations of what residents have termed “waste landlords” or a “waste mafia.” Community members claim a specific individual collects money from truck drivers in exchange for granting them access to the dumping ground, effectively running an unregulated waste operation in plain sight. Despite lodging formal complaints with the Public Protector, the City of Johannesburg, JMPD, and Pikitup over several years, residents insist no meaningful intervention has materialised.
The environmental damage, however, stretches well beyond the dumping ground. The Jukskei River — a critical waterway that originates near Ellis Park and winds through Bedfordview, Edenvale, and Allen’s Nek before feeding into the Hartbeespoort Dam — has become a repository for mattresses, plastic bags, tree logs, tyres, and chemical debris. During the Pikitup strike, witnesses reported seeing waste hurled from a pedestrian bridge directly into the river below. Goats and other animals now graze among the rubbish, and the river’s biodiversity is deteriorating rapidly.
Paul Maluleke, a representative of the Alexandra Water Warriors and an active member of the Jukskei River Catchment Forum, says volunteer cleanup crews are fighting a losing battle. His team conducts weekly water-quality tests, but the results show no measurable improvement. “All the waste is travelling from upstream to downstream, so it feels like we are working backwards,” Maluleke stated, adding that the most alarming contaminants are the solid rubble and chemicals dumped near the Lombardy stretch. He called on authorities to introduce and enforce strict bylaws, warning that the approaching rainy season will flush even more debris from the illegal site into the waterway. Maluleke also pointed to a conspicuous absence of law enforcement officers at the dumping ground, fuelling suspicions of corruption, and appealed to all members of the catchment forum to rally around the river, which he described as a heritage site under siege.
As local government elections approach, political accountability remains conspicuously absent. Ward 81 falls under a Democratic Alliance–run constituency, yet efforts to secure comment from DA officials proved unsuccessful, as the party was occupied with its manifesto launch on the day. The City of Johannesburg’s mayoral office was similarly unavailable to respond to questions about the long-standing crisis. For the residents of Lombardy West, the silence is as suffocating as the smoke drifting from the dump that was supposed to be their sports field.
