A possible breath of fresh air for Zinniaville

Rustenburg – In the Platinum Weekly issue of Friday 2 April, it was reported that residents in the Zinniaville area were complaining about a foul smell filling the air in Zinniaville and its industrial area. A business owner said that the smell blows over from the Rainbow Chicken-Epol complex and sometimes the smell comes from the water in the drains. There were also complaints about the infrastructure outside the complex which are in an appalling state. 
Clearly the roads had not been planned and built to cope with the heavy trucks moving through this industrial zone. Potable water could be seen gushing down a stormwater drain, and a sewer was overflowing and pooling in a pothole which can be better described as a donga.
The environmental manager of the Rustenburg Local Municipality, Lilian Sefike, scheduled a meeting for Thursday 8 April with the Zinniaville Rate Payer’s Association, RCL FOODS, and the Bojanala District Municipality. The aim of the meeting was to discuss the recurring foul air experienced in the area, the RCL FOODS biogas wastewater management project (known as the Waste to Value Plant), water provision, and the pending air pollution licence. 
RCL FOODS corporate affairs director Stephen Heath summarised the meeting: “The meeting between RCL Foods and the community representatives was fairly successful. The community representatives were given the opportunity to express their views openly and fully. It was agreed that a WhatsApp channel would be set up for community representatives to communicate directly with RCL Foods regarding odour complaints as and when they arise.”
Stephen also confirmed that an ambient air quality assessment would be conducted at the RCL Foods Rustenburg complex by specialists and that the results would be shared with the relevant parties.
The infrastructure issues were not detailed at the meeting as there was no municipal representative from the service delivery section to comment on it. RCL Foods agreed to fix what they can in the immediate surroundings themselves whilst continuing to engage with the municipality to try to resolve these issues in a broader sense. The sewerage manhole is still broken and blocked and was reported to the municipality.
Regarding the water that was coming out of the pipes from the plant, this had already been repaired by Epol. 
A further meeting will take place at Rustenburg Processing on 17 May to show the progress on action points, get feedback from the community and to do a site tour.