WATCH | Abandoned container tuckshops cause a stink

Abandoned shipping containers that once operated as tuckshops have become a refuge for vagrants and alleged drug users, leaving residents living near an illegal dumping site in Pietermaritz Street fearing for their safety and demanding urgent intervention from Msunduzi Municipality. Residents say at least two of the three containers were previously used as spaza shops run by foreign nationals before being abandoned after the March and March campaign calling for the deportation of undocumented immigrants. Since being moved onto the vacant property, they say the containers have become the centre of growing criminal activity, illegal dumping and serious public health concerns.

AWitnessinvestigation confirmed that the containers were moved onto the vacant plot shortly after the deportation campaign began. It also found that a man claiming ownership of the containers is the prospective purchaser of the property, which was put up for sale after an illegal scrap metal business operating on the site was shut down late last year. However, the sale has not been finalised because the prospective buyer has yet to meet the legal requirements for the transfer of ownership.

The Witnesstracked down the owner of the containers, John Emam, who confirmed they belonged to him but denied any knowledge of the conditions surrounding them. I don’t know anything about the dumping, but those are my containers. “I don’t understand why people are complaining because that is my plot.

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I bought it,” Emam said. He declined to provide further details about the property purchase or where the containers had previously been used.

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