Yesterday, DA ward councillor, Sybil Niewoudt accompanied a delegation of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and municipal officials on an oversight visit to the Paarl wastewater treatment plant outside Lephalale.
Our oversight revealed the following shocking state of the treatment plant:
- The wastewater treatment plant is not fully operational, and is overflowing (see photo here);
- Raw sewage flows into the Mogol river;
- The contamination affected the plant life and the municipality has yet to rehabilitate the area;
- The new treatment plant was built 2 years ago and is still not operational; the service provider abandoned the project as his contract was not renewed, and skills transfer were not done. (See photo here);
- The Exxaro grey water dam is managed by Lephalale municipality and upon arrival, the smell off rotten fish and sewage was unbearable. Hundreds of dead fish were floating in the water. (See photos here and here) and;
- The Marapong waste treatment plant is not in operation; there is a sewage dam, but the raw sewage is not treated. The plant was built in 2010 at a cost of R13 million and has since been vandalised. (See photo here).
Officials claimed that they were unaware of the extent of contamination and took a water sample for testing.
The DA is concerned as this contaminated grey water is allocated to Mogol golf Club and residents adjacent to the golf course use this water in their gardens.
Grey water plants must be monitored on a regular basis, which would have prevented this contamination, which can cause cholera.
The SAHRC gave the municipality 4 months to clean up the contamination and we will closely monitor the process.
The 2022 Green Drop Report revealed that Limpopo scored 29% in the assessment of its wastewater treatment plants; 50 plants were deemed critical.
It is clear that the ANC government does not care about the dilapidated water infrastructure that cause contamination; our communities deserve better.