Sunday Times, South Africa - September 19, 1999
Janet Heard
Provincial ANC leader Ebrahim Rasool accused premier Gerald Morkel's government of dragging its feet and failing to implement recommendations made by a task team 10 months ago.
In spite of the recommendations, no proclamation had yet been issued to ensure that local authorities enforced the compulsory registration of medical waste generators, said Rasool during a legislative debate on Friday.
"Obviously this is the first step in our attempts to deal heavily with practitioners and institutions which dispose of their waste in unsafe ways."
The task team also recommended new provincial legislation on medical waste and compulsory training programmes for medical waste generators. Then Health MEC Peter Marais set up the task team after about 200 children were found playing with medical waste in Lost City, Mitchells Plain, last year.
After visiting the dumping site this week, new Health MEC Nic Koornhof said amendments to fill legislative loopholes were being drafted and would hopefully be implemented this year.
Friday's legislative debate was called after 48 children were found to have played with hazardous waste dumped in Elsies River. Children ate some of the pills and pricked each other with needles. They were given anti-Aids treatment with AZT and 3TC.
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