FOLLOWING the brutal death of Pikitup security guards at the Goudkoppies landfill site, the Joburg Metropolitan Police Department, Pikitup and other stakeholders have moved in to clean up the area in a multi-disciplinary operation.
The area, which was largely occupied by recyclers, has been cleaned and majority of the illegal structures built there gone.
The five guards who were killed had bullet wounds on their heads. A few days after the killings, five more people were shot and killed just outside the landfill site, in what was believed to be a turf war-related shooting.
JMPD spokesman Xolani Fihla said: “Following the attack and killing of security guards at the Goudkoppies landfill site in Devland and subsequent to engagement by various stakeholders, a multi-disciplinary operation is being conducted at the landfill site by JMPD, SAPS, Pikitup, Environmental Health, the Health Department, Social Development, Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Urban Management.
He said the continuous operation commenced three weeks ago and it’s being conducted every Wednesday and Friday.
“The operation at the present moment is focused on law enforcement, cleaning and removing illegal dumping in the area.
“No arrests have been made since the operation started, and there have been no evictions yet,” Fihla said.
