PAY HUNDRED THOUSAND OR JAIL TIME FOR ILLEGAL DUMPING
Illegal dumping is now a punishable criminal offence in the City of Ekurhuleni, with a hefty fine or jail time.
This comes after the Chief Magistrate at the Johannesburg Magistrate Court determined and approved the implementation of the admission of guilt fines (in terms of Section 57(5) of Criminal Procedure Act, Act 51 of 1977, in respect of offences in terms of contraventions of City of Ekurhuleni Integrated Waste Management By-Law with effect from 03 March 2025.
In terms of Section 53 of the Integrated Waste Management Bylaw, 2021, illegal dumping of any waste is prohibited within the city. Any natural or juristic person found illegally dumping waste may be charged as follows:
- A spot fine (Administrative) of R10 000; or
- May upon conviction depending on the magnitude of the offense, be liable to a fine not exceeding R100 000 (One Hundred Thousand Rand) or to imprisonment for a period of three (3) years.
“Ours as a city is to now implement these punitive measures effectively so that we get to win the battle against illegal dumping,” said city spokesman Zweli Dlamini. “Such fines and sentences are key in discouraging people from illegal dumping because an individual will think about the punishment before they embark on such illegal activities,”
Full document on description of all offences and fines are obtainable from COE website, CCC’s:
| SECTION | OFFENCE | AMOUNT |
| Section 53 | No person may drop, throw, deposit, spill, dump, store or in any other way discard, any litter or waste into or onto any public place, municipal drain, open land, vacant stand, stream, water course, street, road, water body or on any place to which the public has access, or otherwise dispose of it nor may they allow a person under their control to do so. | R10 000 |
| Section 27(2) | No person may undertake to generate, collect, transport, sort, store, re-use, recycle, recover or dispose waste with the intention of making profit, including scrap dealers, waste treatment facilities and formalized recycling groups, unless the undertaking is accredited in terms of Chapter 11 of this By-Law, or licensed or registered in terms of the National Environmental Management Waste Act. | R10000 |
| Section 21(1) | Where the Municipality provides an approved waste receptacle; Failure of a person to place a receptacle for collection of waste by the Municipality other than the one that has been provided by it. | R1500 |
| Section 21(2) | Failure of the owner or occupier of premises for which the Municipality provides an approved waste receptacle to accept and carry the liable for its replacement costs if such receptacle is lost or damaged, except where such loss or damage is caused by a Municipal employee or a service provider while carrying out their duties | R1500 |
| Section 41(3) | Failure of a person to recover or dispose of waste tyres in a manner that has no potential to cause pollution of the environment or harm to health and well-being. | R10 000 |
| Section 41(4) | Failure of the owner/ driver of the vehicle to produce waste accreditation permit for transporting waste tyres. | R10 000 |
| Section 23(3) | No person may allow an animal in his or her control to interfere with, overturn or damage a receptacle, which has been placed for collection. | R1500 |
