‘These sites are the worst we have seen across the province’
The Democratic Alliance’s spokesman for Human Settlements, Mr Bosman Grobler (MPL), visited Ermelo on Monday on a fact-finding mission to ascertain the scale of the ongoing sewage spills at various locations in the town.
He was accompanied by DA councillors in the Msukaligwa Municipality and a crew from SABC TV2, who filmed at least two of the sites.
At various sites, sewage has been flowing either constantly or sporadically into open fields and along roadsides for months and even years, eventually ending up in rivers and dams, most notably the Pet Dam in the heart of the town.
At Klipbou in Wesselton a manhole on a sewer main has been spouting a constant stream of raw sewage down the hillside for several months. The sewage ends up in a river that eventually joins the Vaal River.
Many municipalities along the river, including those in Gauteng, draw their drinking water from the Vaal Dam which is fed by the severely polluted Vaal River.
At another site in Ext 32 to the south of Ermelo, a sewer main situated in the backyard of a residence has been spewing raw sewage into the street for several months.
During the visit to the site, small children could be seen picking their way past the stinking river of sewage on their way home from school.
In a statement released by Mr Grobler, he said that although sewage spills are no new phenomenon in Mpumalanga, a drastic increase in such spills has been noted across the province during the past two months. With the help of their local public representatives, the DA is compiling evidence of sewage spills in each municipality and will soon drive this as a provincial issue.
“However, we have decided to visit sewage spillage sites in Msukaligwa today, because these sites are the worst we have seen across the province. Msukaligwa is really an example of how not to deal with sewer crises.
“We are concerned about this, because, in the first place, it is not necessary. If the municipality employed competent workers with the necessary skills to deal with basic service delivery, sites like this shouldn’t exist. Secondly, this pollution is a huge health risk, which not only places the municipality and its residents at risk, but the whole province,” he said.
The DA will write to the Msukaligwa Municipality, as well as to all municipalities where evidence of such pollution has been found, and request them to repair and clean up these sites.
“We will also request the municipality to establish an early detection unit as well as to put a continuous maintenance plan in place, so as to ensure that these spills are identified early and maintained regularly. If the municipality fails to react to this request, it will leave the DA with no other option but to lay charges in terms of legislation against the Municipal Manager in his or her personal capacity,” he said.
