MDM performs poorly on green drop status report

The Democratic Alliance (DA) wrote a letter to the municipal manager, Tshepo Mogano, following the poor performance of the municipality, and according to Mahlatswa Lebbeus Ramalepe, DA councillor in the MDM, he awaits feedback on a turnaround plan for the situation. “The report that was tabled during the July 31 council sitting depicts a low score of 32% for the year 2022.

The required minimum percentage for the green drop certification for wastewater works is 90%,” says Ramalepe.  “The report speaks to the poor management of the wastewater treatment plants and the failure to carry out infrastructure maintenance and oversight to ensure adequate service delivery. Another factor that contributes to the district’s poor performance is the failure to recruit and place process controllers and supervisor staff at the wastewater treatment works,” says Ramalepe.

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On a recent oversight visit by Ramalepe to the eight wastewater treatment works in the district, he found that there is a great shortage of purification chemicals and broken and blocked screens which make reticulation near impossible.

He lists as failures the lack of the development of a wastewater risk abatement plan, a water quality laboratory that is not accredited, insufficient compliance and monitoring performance, nonpublication of the green drop results, the lack of calibration methods, backup power at waterworks that is not adequately maintained and the MDM’s failure to achieve the green drop requirement.

“The ANC-led municipality’s failure to maintain wastewater works not only stifles efforts to encourage economic development that may create much-needed jobs but also infringes on the rights of the residents of the Mopani district to a clean and healthy environment. “The DA is committed to holding the municipality accountable and ensuring that adequate sanitation services are delivered to the residents of MDM.”

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The Herald contacted Odas Ngobeni, media liaison officer for the MDM for his comments on the matter. “The DA is grossly opportunistic and mischievous in deliberately omitting the fact that council has approved that at least 10% of the R500 million budget on infrastructure should go towards refurbishment and maintenance of the water and wastewater treatment plants,” states Ngobeni.

“This of course augments the normal operational budget. But also, we will be finalising the recruitment process for officials who will help enhance our capacity around water quality compliance in the next few weeks. “The advert has gone out, and it has already closed. The MDM is also finalising processes that will lead to the finalisation of the wastewater risk abatement plan, and all of this forms part of our recovery strategy,” says Ngobeni.