By Phillip Nyalungu of Mass Solidarity Movement/ Waste Pickers Movement
I found Masixole back at the dumpsite on Monday where he once again told me he's not on good terms with his grandma and that they had a fight soon after I left their place this past Friday. I asked him if I could take him to the hospital the next day and he agreed and said that I should also go get his ID and the hospital card from his grandma in Vukani Location. When I went to fetch him on Tuesday morning I found two police vans at the dump.
Xolani, one of the waste pickers, came across a small dead baby wrapped in a red and pink towel mixed with domestic waste. This is not for the first time it happened and without waste pickers no one would have known about babies thrown away with the waste. It is likely there are many cases that go unreported. Apparently, this information is increasingly being hidden from the public because when I asked the forensic personnel how often this happens, he told me they are not allowed to speak to the public regarding this issue.
Waste pickers are critical members of our society who contribute significantly to bringing this important information to foreground. But unfortunately they are not recognised for what they are doing. There's so much happening on the dumpsite where businesses, institutions and public are taking shortcuts at the expenses of the natural environment and waste pickers. Because they know the latter are not taken seriously by society who largely ignore the important work the waste pickers are doing. The failure of government to address inequality, poverty and gender based violence is further hidden. As a result the poor, vulnerable and workers suffer in silence. Maybe the mother of the baby found at the dump is also dead. Who knows?
Waste pickers from the Makana landfill sell their recyclable materials to four scrapyards or middlemen here in Makhanda and they sell up to 40 tons worth of waste to one scrapyard per Month. So, imagine how much environmentally damaging waste is being diverted from entering into the environment every month, when including the other three scrapyards. Also, there are street waste pickers who are not yet included in this research.
At the hospital they told Masixole he must start at Day Care. So, we went to Day Care in town near the traffic circle [Cobden Street]. There they took his blood, gave him Flucloxacillin, Ibuprofen and Napamol pills. They also gave him a small plastic container to cough into and bring the specimen the coming Thursday, when going to fetch his HIV/Aids treatment.
He didn’t want to go back home. Instead he wanted to go back to the dumpsite. When we got there I found a group of young men playing chess and I was impressed and have been thinking that if activities like these can be supported and strengthened to help develop these young people, and how initiatives like these can contribute towards improving Grahamstown’s economy. Their development is important, taking into consideration that these people are the future of this town, this province, our country and the world.
I went to the site again today and I saw young people burning copper insulation to extract the copper wire to sell to the nearby scrapyard. I also took a picture of one month of recyclable materials extracted and brought by the waste pickers to the scrapyard. This is very sad because these young people come to the dumpsite mainly because of poverty created not by them. They work so hard for many years, but when they get sick, hungry or need help, there's no structural support and their souls perish as if they never had a single breath to this land - like many thrown away babies - let alone those picked by waste pickers' bare hands.
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