Residents’ nightmare as uncontrolled municipal waste site in Bluewater Bay becomes haven for suspected copper thieves

What was meant to be a waste transfer site to prevent illegal dumping in Bluewater Bay, near Gqeberha, has turned into a nightmare for residents as the uncontrolled and unfenced site has become a haven for local criminals.

Fires are set almost daily at the Tipper’s Creek site, likely by copper thieves, filling the neighbourhood with smoke and posing a threat to the nearby Aloes Nature Reserve.

Nolan Mathura, chairperson of the community police forum in Swartkops: “We absolutely have to step in and fix this right now.

“Accountability measures have to follow what is happening here.”

Illegal dwellings

“Last year, we got a drone in, and we checked the surrounding area. We found six illegal dwellings, including quite a big one, and there were a lot of cables and steel. We believe they were making the fires to get the plastic off the copper,” Mathura said.

“From a crime point of view, we have a good infrastructure in terms of CCTV and the members of the neighbourhood watch, but we lose criminals when crimes are reported. We are now under the impression that they come in here [the waste site],” he said.

“This is a major issue for us. The only way forward, in my view, is to contain this area and get it fenced. We have been talking about it now for many months, even years. We don’t want a ClearVu fence. We had one here, and there is not even a single panel left. We want those heavy-duty concrete fences,” he said.

Information from the municipality shows that in November 2025, the six illegal structures were demolished, and while individuals were found at the site they were not “taking responsibility for the shacks”.

Mathura said the manager of the waste site must also be held accountable. “We don’t want to close the transfer site because that will cause a bigger problem. We had a lot of illegal dumping all over Bluewater Bay, and we worked hard to get people to drop it here.

The chair of the Bluewater Bay Family Church Council, Kobus Kruger, has written a hard-hitting letter detailing how the waste site has affected the lives of the congregation and surrounding residents.

“During a church council meeting of the NG Congregation Blouwater Bay held on 2 February 2026, it was resolved to write a letter to the ward councillor and municipal officials responsible for the management of the above-mentioned waste dumping site, requesting its removal.

Extent of fires at waste site ‘alarmingly worse’

“Firstly, fires occur there regularly, and their extent and nature are becoming alarmingly worse. During storm-force winds, these fires have already spread close to residential areas as well as our church building and church grounds,” the letter reads.

“Apart from the stench inside the church building, these fires have severely disrupted some of our gatherings. For example, during last year’s Christmas service, smoke hung over the church building and grounds. On occasion, we have even been forced to suspend a gathering due to the toxic smell and smoke inside the church building.

“Secondly, the location and placement of the waste dumping site, which borders our church grounds, has caused serious harm to us as a congregation. In addition to numerous major break-ins – including the theft of our bell and a break-in at our church office, all of which originated from the waste dumping site – the presence of the site has made further planning to develop the open land we own in a functional and productive manner impossible.”

Kruger writes in the letter that a few years ago, when there were only a few metal containers where residents disposed of garden refuse, the area was still a beautiful nature reserve.

“We planned the development of a retirement village on the open land. Our strongest motivation, however, is that the waste dumping site poses a serious threat to the health of residents in the area.

“Even among our congregation members, there is evidence of this health risk. One of our members who lives in a complex a few metres from the dumping site has described how severely residents are affected by the fires and the toxic smoke they are forced to inhale.”

He added that community members who live as far away as the coast can still smell the toxic smoke.

“The local pharmacist and local medical practitioner can and will testify to the treatment of patients with chronic respiratory problems. There are also cases of throat and lung cancer. It must be taken into account that plastic from cables is being burned, polluting the air with toxins,’ Kruger’s letter reads.

He added that “reactive efforts” to manage the fires and the condition of the waste dumping site are neither sufficient nor sustainable.

“The fire department, which has been called out numerous times, will have data reflecting how many fires have been extinguished there. The scraping of the area due to rubbish scattered everywhere has merely expanded the area surrounding the dumping site and further destroyed the original natural reserve.

“The proposal and plan to fence off the dumping site and appoint a full-time manager would be counterproductive, as there was previously a fence which was removed, and the current situation – allegedly under the supervision of a municipal official – allows these cable-burning fires and other criminal activities to occur.”

Kruger claims in the letter that there is evidence that people are going to the site to buy waste material.

“In light of the above facts, we as the church council and congregation, can do nothing other than to appeal for the removal of the waste dumping site to an area away from residential zones and our church grounds. For example, there is a suitable site near the Swartkops Police Station where the dumping site could be relocated, which would also allow for direct monitoring,” the letter continues.

The current reverend at the church, Bianca Marais, said the church’s activities have been badly disrupted by the almost-daily fires at the site.

“We had a Christmas service in December but the church was filled with smoke from the fires,” she said. She also mentioned the church’s bell being broken out of its tower and stolen along with copper pipes from other church buildings.

“Also it is a major issue for me that our congregants really struggle with their health due to the ongoing fires,” she said. “This is not a responsible way to manage the environment.”

Resident Jacques Arendt, who lives 400 metres from the waste transfer site, said his house often reeks from all the smoke and it is sometimes very difficult to breathe. “I often have to take the children to the doctor for hayfever and sinus. We believe this is the cause,” he said. He said their washing sometimes becomes saturated with the smoke and they have to wash it repeatedly.

Democratic Alliance councillor Werner Senekal has sent a series of increasing irate letters to the metro complaining about the site.

Most damning is a series of WhatsApp messages showing that the fire brigade has had to be called out for fires at the site almost daily for the past three months.

‘Health emergency’

“This is a health emergency,” Senekal writes in his letter of 22 January.

According to documentation received by Senekal, the metro will make provision to upgrade security at the site in the upcoming adjustment budget. In July last year a former acting city manager at the metro, Ted Pillay, ordered that the necessary quotes be obtained to fence the site properly.

Previous oversight visits by Senekal showed that rubbish at the site was also not being removed on time, posing not only a health hazard but also a pollution danger for the nearby Aloes Reserve.

A response to Senekal’s questions to the Nelson Mandela Bay metro council, from the Public Health and Safety and Security departments read as follows:

• There were 30 separate fires at the tip from January to December last year – a cost of R92,070 to the ratepayers;
• The Safety and Security Department promised to deploy metro police officers at Tipper’s Creek to patrol;
• Public Health said it was unable to provide armed security guards at the site because of budgetary constraints; and
• Public Health officials admitted that the bins at the site had to be removed twice a week. The truck, however, was in for repairs and had been stuck there for six months; as a result an external service provider had to be engaged to do the work.

In October 2024 a report produced by Public Health to address health concerns at the Tipper’s Creek site confirmed that on inspection in October 2024 they found that one of the rubbish skips at the waste site had been set alight. The matter was sent to the Air Pollution Directorate for investigation. DM