The cause of an obnoxious smell of cat pee – that has plagued residents in residential areas south of Durban – cannot be traced although many residents say an industrial company FSS Refiners is causing it.
FSS Refiners produces and recycles industrial heating fuels in Clairwood and Alison Haycock, the company’s environmental manager strongly denies that the company is responsible for the pong but does concede that the company had been using a new chemical, which has since discontinued.
The representative of a local environmental watchdog group and Democratic Alliance councillor, Billie Prinsloo has written to Durban’s city manager, Michael Sutcliffe demanding that the refinery is closed until the nasty smell goes away.
Haycock says the company has co-operated fully with city officials and environmental groups in trying to get rid of the smell and has even hired a private investigator to help track down the source of the pong.
However, Desmond D’Sa, co-ordinator of the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance is angry with Durban’s officials and has demanded that the health department takes immediate action to find the source of the cat pee smell and stop it.
Apparently the smell drifts into neighbouring suburbs of Clairwood, Montclair, Merebank, Wentworth, Umbilo and the Bluff making life unbearable for residents who say that it drifts into their homes and just hangs there for days.
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