DELMAS – The Department of Water and Sanitation laid a criminal charge against Victor Khanye Local Municipality for failing to comply with the departmental policies of regulating Waste Water Treatment Plants.
The Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation, David Mahlobo, on 6 March led a delegation of officials from his department in an enforcement visit to the Victor Khanye Local Municipality. His visit was due to the malfunctioning Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTPs) of Botleng and Delmas, which mainly contribute to the pollution of the streams and catchments in Delmas and Nkangala area.
During the assessment of the Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTP), the deputy minister expressed his dissatisfaction and the shock with the current state of the WWTPs that are unkempt and malfunctioning, causing sewage spillages at residential areas. Furthermore, the unbearable smell of the stinking WWTPs and wastage were left to dry out in those plants and in the Botleng WWTP sewage water could be seen flowing into a nearby river which according to Mahlobo is flowing into the Bronkhorspruit Dam to its tributaries of the Bronkhorspruit river, connected to other rivers in the country including the Orange River to the Free State and Limpopo, Namibia and Mozambique.
Mahlobo said his department has in the previous years assessed the situation at the Waste Water Treatment Plants and subsequently issued directives to the municipality to remedy the situation in line with the National Water Act but there had been no changes or any improvement of the status of the WWTP which Mahlobo saw best to open a criminal case against the municipality. “We are doing the right thing today which is backed up by the law which is enforced by the National Water Act,” said Mahlobo.
“Today we are taking this drastic step and we appeal to the municipality to take this matter seriously and work towards eradicating pollution in this area. This problem has been going on for long and has to be brought to an end,” he added.
He said the municipality has previously been offered financial assistance to address the problems at the WWTP, but the municipality has only drafted plans but failed to implement them. Mahlobo has also called on different stakeholders to work together to eradicate the problem of pollution of water resources in Mpumalanga.
During the media briefing of the stakeholders, the minister explaining the dangers of the untreated water, “The biological system of infants is not matured enough to fight harmful substances which could lead them to death,” he said.
The implications of these malfunctioning treatment plants include the limited water access by the Botleng community who said they are concerned about the sludge which normally floats in water pumps into their taps when water goes on and off. “The water would be off in the morning and most evenings, then when it’s back, the water looks whitish and tastes funny,” said one community member.
The Executive Mayor of Victor Khanye Local Municipality, Vusi Buda, has acknowledged the problems at the Waste Water Treatment Plants and has made a commitment that the municipality will work speedily to address the challenges experienced at the Waste Water Treatment Plants. “It is not because we were ignoring the directives. It is because our resources are limited. You would have read in some news that we have the debt issues with Eskom and Rand Water,” Buda said.
“We have numerous reports that we have received [from Water and Sanitation] which will look at to have way forward to rectify the situation. We are sorry to people of Victor Khanye for the state of the treatment plants,” he apologised. Buda said they will again draft a plan and start to implement it in the new financial year in June 2020. However, a 2018 Mail & Guardian news report suggests that the municipality was granted R72-million budget of which R12-Million alone was for the upgrade of the Botleng plant which does not indicate any evidence of an upgrade as it is still overloaded with industrial effluent and domestic sewer.
