JOURNAL NEWS - LATEST EDITION - 15 MAY 2026
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After years of violence, lawlessness and mounting safety concerns at landfill sites, Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality has finally pulled the plug on scrap metal recycling and second-hand goods trading at all landfill sites across the metro.
The municipality confirmed this week that the sweeping ban follows growing concerns over criminal activity, weak enforcement of permit conditions and repeated violent incidents linked to scrap operations — including killings at some landfill sites.
In what is being viewed as one of the municipality’s toughest interventions yet, Mangaung said scrap metal recycling and second-hand goods trading will no longer be allowed at any landfill facility within its jurisdiction.
“The Municipality has resolved that scrap metal recycling and second-hand goods dealing will no longer be permitted at any landfill sites within the Mangaung Metropolitan area,” the municipality said in a statement.
For years, landfill sites across the metro have become flashpoints for illegal activity, with complaints ranging from theft, violence and turf wars to poor access control and unregulated trading.
The growing presence of scrap operations has often created dangerous conditions for waste reclaimers, municipal workers and nearby communities.
Municipal officials said the decision followed consultations with external departments and stakeholders as concerns escalated over public safety and operational control at landfill facilities.
Authorities believe the ban will help restore order at sites that have increasingly become difficult to regulate.
However, the decision does not solve the broader humanitarian and social challenges surrounding landfill sites.
Informal settlements continue to expand around several dumping grounds where families and waste reclaimers live in makeshift shelters under harsh conditions.
Many residents lack access to basic services such as clean water, sanitation and electricity.
Community leaders and residents have repeatedly warned that landfill sites have become centres of desperation driven by unemployment, poverty and limited housing opportunities.
Environmental health concerns have also been raised over unsafe living conditions and long-term exposure to waste.
Reacting to the municipality’s announcement, AfriForum’s Christo Groenewald welcomed the move but cautioned that enforcement would be critical.
He said authorities must also confront the issue of informal settlements surrounding landfill sites.
“Regulation without relocation and proper enforcement risks shifting the problem rather than solving it,” Groenewald said.
Mangaung has warned that reclaimers who fail to comply with the new directive could have their permits revoked and may be denied access to landfill sites as enforcement measures begin.
The municipality now faces pressure to ensure the ban delivers lasting change without deepening the hardship faced by vulnerable communities who depend on landfill activity for survival.
Modern society, as we know it, is bereft of social justice and fairness. We live comfortably in a world where nearly everything has a price i.e., water, land, education and even human attention. Yet, we suffer tall panic the moment a woman says “Nope, this one is not for free.” Suddenly, morality wakes up like a church elder who has just heard that popular Sister Bethina song at the nearby tavern.
For centuries, men have behaved as if they are the natural custodians of the female body. Almost as if the vagina is a public utility, like a municipal tap that must flow freely, especially for those who arrive with nothing but confidence and vibes. The idea that a woman can say, “access denied unless there is compensation,” shakes something deep in the patriarchal system. It disturbs an old, comfortable lie.
Our society generally has no problem with people using their bodies to make a living. In fact, that is exactly how the economy works.
The educated class sells brain power. The working class sells muscle. We all understand that survival under capitalism means converting parts of ourselves into value. But when women seek to derive a livelihood from their own bodies, suddenly the rules change.
We even buy water now, something many still call a gift from God. It falls from the sky, sustains life and belongs to no one. Yet we bottle it and sell it. Nobody is marching in the streets saying, “water must not be commodified”. We swipe our cards and move on.
But a woman cannot sell access to her own body?
That contradiction cannot be explained by morality alone. It must be located within the broader system of patriarchy and misogyny; a system that has always depended on controlling the female body and prescribing choices for it.
Patriarchy is not just about individual attitudes; it is an economic and social order. It assigns value unevenly. It decides whose labour counts, whose bodies are regulated and whose autonomy is negotiable. In a patriarchal society, the female body is treated as a site of control to be regulated through culture, religion, law and social expectation.
As Angela Davis reminds us, women’s unpaid labour has long been a foundation of economic systems. The home, often romanticised as a place of love, is also a site of extraction where cooking, cleaning, caregiving and emotional support are provided without wages. This is not incidental; it is structural.
Capitalism and patriarchy have worked hand in hand to naturalise women’s exploitation by making their labour appear as duty rather than work. If it is love, it need not be paid. If it is nature, it need not be questioned.
Bell Hooks was correct in insisting that patriarchy survives by normalising domination while disguising it as order. Women are expected to give, to nurture, to provide but not to set terms. Not to negotiate value. Not to withdraw.
This is where misogyny enters, not just as hatred of women but as punishment for women who refuse their assigned roles. A woman who complies is celebrated. A woman who resists is labelled immoral or deviant.
And so, the criminalisation and stigma around sex work are not isolated phenomena. They are extensions of a broader system that polices the autonomy of women. The issue is not simply the exchange of money for intimacy; it is the fact that women are asserting control over access to their bodies.
And that is intolerable in a system built on entitlement.
Because once a woman can say “this is mine and this is the price”, she disrupts the entire logic of patriarchy. She challenges the idea that men are entitled to access, whether through marriage, romance and/or economic dependency. She transforms what was assumed into something negotiated.
The discomfort with sex work is not really about sex. It is about power.
It is about a system that is comfortable commodifying everything, from water to wisdom, but draws the line when women claim ownership over their own bodies. It is about a society that allows men to sell their minds and muscles, but demands that women offer themselves within boundaries defined by others.
Until we confront patriarchy and misogyny at their root, until we accept that women are full agents capable of defining the terms of their own existence, this contradiction will stubbornly remain. And we will continue to live in a world where everything can be bought, except a woman’s right to decide her own value.
*Tshediso Mangope moonlights as a social commentator in his spare time and writes in his personal capacity…
**The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of this publication (Journal News).
After years of rising concerns over crime, violence and illegal activity at landfill sites, Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality has finally moved to ban scrap metal recycling and second-hand goods trading across all landfill sites in the metro.
The municipality this week in a media statement confirmed that the decision was taken following several consultations, mounting concerns over safety risks, weak permit enforcement and escalating criminal activity linked to scrap metal operations.
Mangaung’s Themba Vryman said scrap metal dealing is increasingly being associated with violent incidents, which amongst others include killings at landfill sites which has prompted the outright prohibition of the activity.
“The Municipality has resolved that scrap metal recycling and second-hand goods dealing will no longer be permitted at any landfill sites within the Mangaung Metropolitan area,” he said.
The ban is being viewed as one of the metro’s strongest interventions yet to restore control at landfill sites that have long operated with limited regulation and growing informal activity.
“However, despite the decision, significant challenges remain on the ground. Informal settlements continue to expand around several landfill sites, where families and reclaimers live in makeshift structures under difficult conditions, often without access to basic services such as water, sanitation and electricity.
“Community safety and environmental health concerns have repeatedly been raised, with residents warning that enforcement alone will not resolve the deeper socio-economic pressures driving informal occupation of landfill spaces, Vryman said.
Reacting to the announcement, AfriForum’s Christo Groenewald said the decision was a step in the right direction but warned that implementation and enforcement would determine its success.
Groenewald says authorities must also address the broader issue of informal settlements at landfill sites, arguing that regulation without relocation and proper enforcement risks shifting the problem rather than solving it.
MMM has warned that reclaimers who fail to comply with the new directive may have their permits revoked and could be denied access to landfill sites as enforcement begins.
In Pretoria, suspended National Police Commissioner, Masemola, is expected to appear in the Magistrate’s Court alongside alleged underworld figure Matlala and 12 police officers in a case that has shaken confidence in law enforcement.
Authorities allege links between rogue policing networks and organised criminal activity, with the involvement of senior officers intensifying public scrutiny.
National Police Commissioner, Gen. Fannie Masemola, in court
The matter continues to draw national attention amid growing concerns over corruption and criminal infiltration within the police service.
Prosecutors allege the accused were involved in intimidation and unlawful demands linked to the fiercely contested taxi industry.
The case has heightened tensions in a province long plagued by taxi violence and alleged criminal syndicates operating behind transport disputes.
Suspended Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department deputy chief, Julius Mkhwanazi and Ekurhuleni City Manager Kagiso Lerutla, are back in court over fraud and corruption allegations.
In KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), outspoken Member of Parliament (MP) Fadiel Adams is expected to apply for bail in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court following his arrest in Cape Town last week.
Adams’ arrest sent shockwaves through political circles, with supporters and critics closely watching the proceedings as details surrounding the charges continue to emerge.
Joe “Ferrari” Sibanyoni.
Meanwhile, suspended EMPD acting chief commissioner Julius Mkhwanazi and Ekurhuleni City Manager Lerutla are also expected back in court in a matter linked to alleged murder cover-up and traffic fines manipulation.
From police headquarters to political offices and taxi ranks, Wednesday’s courtroom battles are expected to place some of the country’s most influential figures under spotlight.
Police have confirmed a major drug bust in the North West, with drugs worth an estimated R100 million seized on Wednesday morning.
According to police, Crime Intelligence at the National Head Office uncovered a drug laboratory valued at about R100 million in the Portion 45 Farm Brakspruit, Swartruggens in the province.
National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said the site remains an active crime scene, with officers still at the location.
Police say a suspected drug manufacturing lab discovered in the North West has yielded drugs worth around R100 million.
It is not yet clear whether any arrests have been made in connection with the drug lab.
Police said North West police spokesperson Colonel Adele Myburgh and national police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Amanda van Wyk are on their way to the scene.
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