The Otjiwarongo Municipality has started cleaning up areas in the informal settlements that residents have described as health hazards.

In an attempt to clean up Otjiwarongo, especially the informal areas, which seem to be getting filthier by the day, the municipality has started picking up waste dumped along the main streets.

However, after following the rubbish truck to the disposal site, we learned that the trucks were not entering the site but rather going towards the back.

This is despite a sign prohibiting people from dumping waste outside the fence.

By the look of things, the dumping outside of the disposal site has been going on for some time, as there are a lot of garbage heaps.

Scavengers at the dumpsite say the illegal dumping started at the beginning of this year.

About three rubbish trucks went back and forth to collect garbage from the informal settlement and dumped it outside of the perimeter fence.

On one side of the dumpsite, the fence is vandalised, making the site accessible through the gaping holes in the fence.

Contacted for comment, the municipality's public relations officer, Adelheid Shilongo, says they will only be able to comment next week, citing a busy schedule this week.