Some residents at Goreangab informal settlement have expressed discontent with a temporary waste disposal site that has been allegedly turned into a dumpsite by the community and the Windhoek Municipality.

The temporary residential waste disposal site is located at the Goreangab four-way and serves Thlabanelo Number Two residents as well as residents from other nearby communities.

According to Jason Shivute, a resident of Goreangab, the area was a temporary waste disposal site where community members used to dump waste to be later taken to Kupferberg Landfill by the municipality. 

"In the beginning, it wasn't always like this. They used to dump and then clean up after themselves, but now it is just a matter of dumping. They dump and burn the waste, and as you can see, it is really looking bad." 

The smell from the dumpsite is so unbearable that passers-by cover their mouths and noses.

"The municipality has made this place a dumping site. It has not always been like this, but the challenge we face now is that after they started dumping here and setting fire, it creates a hazardous smoke cloud all over this area that creates a bad smell for the people here. Apart from that, there are people with illnesses and small babies, and they complain about this thing."

Another resident of Goreangab described how the situation is making even carrying out basic daily activities unbearable.

"I stay in that house next to the dumpsite, and you can't even wash your clothes. That smoke goes in the house and it makes one sick as you cannot breathe. It is unhealthy. We want them to stop this here. When my husband complained to COW, they told him that this erf belonged to no one and that they could throw the things there. That's what they told him."

When the nbc News team arrived at the site, the community members were engaging some of the officials from Solid Waste Disposal who were there to burn the waste.

Contacted for comment, the city's public relations officer noted that the site in question is a temporary waste collection point for the municipality. 
Lydia Amutenya, however, assured the community that the municipality will investigate the situation and try to find the best possible solution to it.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism is also expected to conduct an investigation regarding the site

"We will commission a team to go and investigate what is on the ground, and thereafter we will engage CoW so that we understand, because as far as we are concerned, we have not issued any environmental clearance certificate for a disposal facility in that area. Should it be established that the city is at fault, we will issue them with a noncompliance certificate, and also, if the site is in a state where it is causing a health hazard to the people, we will close that site," added Romeo Muyunda, the Environment Ministry's Chief Public Relations Officer.