A year after the City of Johannesburg announced a R150-million project to rehabilitate the decommissioned Kya Sands landfill, residents living nearby say recurring waste fires and smoke from illegal dumping continue to affect their daily lives, with some reporting breathing problems.

The Kya Sands landfill site, decommissioned more than 15 years ago after reaching capacity, borders a densely populated informal settlement, several middle class residential suburbs and an industrial manufacturing hub. 

The City previously estimated that deteriorating air quality associated with the fires was affecting about 80,000 residents in and around Fourways, Cedar Lakes and Bloubosrand.

Smoke affecting residents

“I cough every single day. It recently woke me up at 3 o’clock in the morning, because I couldn’t breathe, and I started coughing immediately,” says 60-year-old Deborah Ball, who moved into an estate in Craigavon in August last year. She said she did not have asthma before moving to the area but developed bronchial problems during winter. When the burning becomes intense, she said she immediately notices a difference in her breathing.

Ball says the smoke sometimes has an acrid smell, which she believes comes from materials such as tyres, rubber or chemicals being burned.

” I’ve had to start using an inhaler pump, because my chest closes now.”

Illegal dumping continues

Ward 98 councillor Davon Steenkamp says a boundary wall is being built as part of the City’s R150-million rehabilitation project, but trucks are still dumping waste on nearby private properties, where he says it is set alight to make space for the next load.

“There have been a lot of residents complaining about respiratory problems. Even myself, when I drive through there or go into that area, it affects my sinuses, so I know very well what some of the repercussions are.”

“It is also very sad for the people living in the informal settlements nearby because, unlike the people in the surrounding areas outside the settlement, they cannot afford to get air purifiers. They constantly have to close their doors, and it is also difficult for the children who are living there,” said Steenkamp.

“The informal settlement residents cannot really do anything about this. The illegal dumpers are part of a syndicate that makes millions of rands a month, and they come there with weapons, so it is a dangerous situation.”

The issue of organised crime syndicates, known locally as “waste-lords”, operating unchecked in the area has been widely reported, but despite the proposed rehabilitation project, hundreds of trucks are reportedly still accessing several illegal dumping sites for a fee.

Chairperson of the police forum, Lizzy Mabena, believes measures should be taken to address abandoned land and initiatives explored to establish if the City can take over these properties, as many of them have accumulated significant municipal debt.

“The City seems to be failing to hold large companies accountable, there are allegations that some are illegally dumping at the site, with others reportedly contracted by the City itself,” says Mabena.

City says rehabilitation is underway

The City of Johannesburg’s Environment and Infrastructure Services Department (EISD) admits the Kya Sands landfill, which ceased operations in 2010, has become a hotspot for illegal dumping and related environmental challenges. 

In a statement MMC for Environment and Infrastructure Services, Jack Sekwaila, said recurring waste fires were contributing to deteriorating air quality in Fourways, Cedar Lakes and Bloubosrand. Sekwaila says measures to curb illegal dumping have been strengthened, and interventions to extinguish and prevent recurring fires are actively underway.

EISD Executive Director Dr Tebogo Modiba described the project as a long-term intervention aimed at permanently securing the site, preventing illegal activities and providing a long-term waste management solution for the area.

The City said approximately 98,000 tonnes of illegally dumped waste had been removed, while security personnel had been deployed at the site. It said eight local SMMEs had been subcontracted for plant hire and other services, with 37 community members employed on the project.

The City also said air quality monitoring systems were completed in January 2026.

For Deborah, however, the impact remains immediate. “We really are not living in a very healthy environment right now.”