The Department of Environmental Affairs would like to confirm that the case of the illegal dumping of medical waste in Welkom was struck off the court roll on 30 May 2011, at the Welkom District Court. The court decided that the case should be struck from the roll in order to provide the State with additional time to complete the investigation and in order to provide time for full disclosure of certain information.
On 9 February 2011, the State had indicated that it was the State’s intention to complete the investigation and to supply the defence with the content of the docket together with the indictment. The docket was supplied to the accused on 18 March 2011, but unfortunately at that stage it became clear that, despite the intention to complete the investigation, further evidence, which had only recently come to light, still needed to be obtained.
Once the last outstanding aspects of the investigation have been attended to, the case will be arraigned in the High Court in Bloemfontein.
The case relates to the illegally dumped medical waste at Maximus Bricks, the Welkom showgrounds, a farm outside of Welkom and an unused Harmony Gold mine on the outskirts of Welkom, uncovered in November 2009.
The actual volume of medical waste illegally buried in Welkom is believed to be in the region of 7 000 tons. As it was necessary to also remove the soil that had potentially come into contact with the waste, approximately 18 000 tons of medical waste combined with soil was removed by Wasteman in compliance with the Compliance Notice issued by this department for the cleanup of the waste and rehabilitation of the sites.
A criminal investigation into the illegal dumping of medical waste was initiated by the Department of Environmental Affairs and the South African Police Service (SAPS).
For media queries contact:
Roopa Singh
Cell: 082 225 3076
Lucky Sindane
Cell: 072 188 9216
