The City of Tshwane Emergency Services Department has vowed to fight against any illegal processing, handling, storage and distribution of hazardous materials after it shut down a liquified petroleum gas (LPG) depot at a plot in Laezonia for operating without proper authorisation.
Emergency Service spokesperson, Charles Mabaso, said hazardous materials posed a risk to the environment and the health, lives, livelihoods and property of residents.
He said an illegally operated liquified petroleum gas depot in Laezonia, south-east of Tshwane, was shut down recently after municipal fire safety officers conducted a site inspection.
“The inspection was a follow-up on an inspection that was conducted in December 2023 following a complaint that the department received from concerned members of the public,” Mabaso said.
During the December site inspection, Mabaso said, the owner of the facility was issued a contravention notice to cease operations and close the facility, where two 9 000-litre LPG storage tanks were erected without the necessary permits.
“However, on February 19 2024, fire safety officers found employees on the site loading LPG cylinders onto an unroadworthy bakkie and trailer. Upon further investigation, it was determined that the illegal installation was filling assorted sizes of LPG cylinders, ranging from 9 kg to 19 kg and 48 kg,” he said.
Tshwane Metro Police Department was called in to confiscate equipment used to fill and scale LPG cylinders.
Mabaso said: “The owner was issued with a R15 000 contravention fine on three offences as stipulated in the City of Tshwane by-law. During the period, the owner arranged a certified truck to remove 43 LPG cylinders (25 x 48 kg, 10 x 19 kg and 8 x 9 kg cylinders) from the site to a site in Midrand which the owner alleges is certified. City officials will engage Johannesburg Fire Safety to monitor the compliance of this company.”
He said the department would randomly monitor the site to ensure that operations were never resumed after the facility owner promised to appoint a service provider to decant and remove the two illegally erected tanks.
“The City of Tshwane Emergency Services Department is monitoring the plots in Laezonia because an illegal diesel depot was also discovered and closed in the area in 2023,” Mabaso said.
Pretoria News