Community on edge over smelly black bags
Two black bags from which a horrible stench emanated sent residents of Musa Dladla Road in Newslands East into panic mode.
|||Durban - It was one of those occasions that had everyone scratching their heads, blocking their noses but also a little on edge. For several days, residents in Newlands East were aware of a putrid smell and, when they tracked its source, not even the police really wanted to know what it was.
Hidden in the bushes of Musa Dladla Road were two black bags and it was from them that the stench emanated.
“Only a cow’s head stinks like that,” said someone.
“No, it must be a dead dog,” said someone else.
“Or... a... corpse.”
Resident Lucrecia Joanne Ryan said, through the slits in the bags, the contents looked like a... human thigh.
“Both the health inspector and police had a look but did not open the packets. They said the local waste disposal company should collect them with other refuse,” she said.
With the smell still stirring in their nostrils for another night, residents decided enough was enough and called the cops again.
This time, three police vehicles arrived and a team of cops stood on the embankment, above the bags, no-one really sure who should open the bags, nor if they wanted to.
“There was still a guessing game going on,” says Ryan.
“Eventually a policeman used a stick to split the packets open,” she said.
Police spokesman, Major Thulani Zwane, said inside was rotting fish full of maggots.
Ryan said everyone heaved a sigh of relief... but then battled to breathe in again.
“The person who did this had inconvenienced an entire neighbourhood.” Several people had been fined for illegal dumping in the area previously.
“But special thanks to the residents for their unity in solving the problem as a team,” she said.
At least the CSI team wasn’t needed, but residents agree that, in future, they will go easy on TV crime shows so they will be less inclined to throw red herrings at their beleaguered cops.
zainul.dawood@inl.co.za
Daily News