Paper dump: CoW acts quickly
Old papers and more dumped
The culprits drove past a designated dump site in the Kupferberg area and 'carelessly' dumped the documents at another location, an eyewitness said.
Last week in Windhoek's Agste Laan, a pedestrian saw unidentified individuals dumping thousands of documents from the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture in an unauthorised location.The documents included, amongst others, old papers and curriculum vitaes.
The ministry's executive director, Sanet Steenkamp, confirmed that the photos and videos sent to her by our sister publication Namibian Sun, contain several personal and official documents from the ministry that were illegally thrown away.
"It is indeed from the ministry, specifically the examination directorate. I have since given clear instructions that they must retrieve the documents and recycle them correctly," Steenkamp said.
“Some items are kept for archival purposes, and in this case I believe that someone did not do what was expected of them. We apologise for this," she added.
According to the eyewitness, the culprits drove past a designated landfill in the Kupferberg area and simply dumped the documents at another location.
"I approached the private vehicle and tried to question the men about the dumping, but this instead led to aggressive reactions," the eyewitness said.
"I started taking photos and videos that I intended to share to get help to clean up the area," the source, known only as Ruben, said.
Prompt action
Officers from the City of Windhoek (CoW), who were given access to the photos and video, later tracked down the driver as the vehicle's registration number was visible in the photos and the case was consequently resolved.
"We managed to locate the documents that were illegally dumped along Sam Nujoma Drive on the way to Daan Viljoen. Since it is paper that can easily blow away, our team cleaned up the area," the municipality said.
"We also managed to trace the culprit through the vehicle's registration number and he will be fined N$1,608 for illegal dumping. It will be added to his municipal account," said the CoW's spokesperson, Lydia Amutenya.
Amutenya highlighted sustained efforts by the municipality to keep Windhoek's streets clean and said they cannot tolerate illegal dumping of waste. "Waste must be disposed of properly at our respective landfills. We also have waste recycling initiatives where this type of waste can be recycled," she said.