Responses to parliamentary questions revealing, that the Sekhukhune District Municipality’s has ignored directives from the Department of Water and Sanitation to clean up their act is, is appalling.
Oversights by the DA discovered raw effluent flowing from sewerage plants into rivers, ponds and water sources in several municipalities, including Ephraim Mogale and Elias Motsoaledi. (See photos here and here)
According to responses to written questions to the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu, the Sekhukhune municipality was given directives following inspections to immediately attend to the non-compliance of Sections 19(3) and 53(1) of the National Water Act, 1998 which is an offence in terms of Section 151(1)(d) of the NWA at Dennilton Waste Water Plant.
The Department has since laid criminal charges against the Sekhukhune District Municipality.
Directives issued on the Moganyaka oxidation ponds and Ephraim Mogale waste water plant have also been ignored by the Sekhukhune District Municipality, which has resulted in contamination of water and rivers and seriously affects the health of people living in the Municipality.
Lepelle Northern Water, who is responsible for the operation of four key waste water plants have also clearly been negligent and the Green Drop Scores for the four plants have dropped drastically.
The DA will revisit these plants shortly, and should there be no indication that the directives issued by the Department of Water and Sanitation have been adhered to, criminal charges will be laid by the DA.
We are further concerned that the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), to whom theses water issues were presented during a commission of enquiry more than a year ago, has yet to respond. This too is problematic, and it appears that very little attention is being given to the plight of people in these municipalities.
We will not back down from the fight for basic human rights for all citizens; we take the plight of the already suffering poor and vulnerable, very seriously.