Hoedspruit Saps allegedly refuse to open case against MDM

The DA in Limpopo has written to the Limpopo SAPS Service Complaint Centre to investigate and provide reasons for the refusal by the police in Hoedspruit to open a criminal case against the MDM. This follows numerous attempts to open a criminal case for widespread sewage pollution due to the failure to maintain Hoedspruit’s sewage system, resulting in sewage spills flowing through a local school ground and polluting a perennial river in the Raptors Wildlife Estate.

“The sewage pollution is also detrimental to residents and the local economy heavily reliant on tourism. On September 28, the police in Hoedspruit claimed that they could not open a case because the affidavit did not contain any offence, despite the document including references to the applicable sections in the various laws.

Also read: Hoedspruit’s sewage system in disrepair

“The following day, the police were again presented with an affidavit accompanied by sections of the National Water Act as well as the National Environmental Management Act that state that raw sewage pollution is a criminal offence and still refused to open a criminal case,” said Marie Helm, DA Limpopo deputy leader. She said that Hoedspruit Saps has been persistent in its refusal to open the case without providing a valid reason.

They eventually reluctantly said that they would open ‘an enquiry’ but would not open a criminal case saying that they did not have the ‘code’ needed for the ‘system’ to produce a case number. “Communities deserve optimal service delivery from the police and they must accept all valid criminal complaints and investigate them in a transparent and fair manner. The DA will closely monitor developments around this issue,” Helm said.

At the time of the spill in September, the Herald reported that a pump near the LeBamba Shopping Centre was out of service for weeks before MDM finally repaired the pump. Helm told the Herald that a 3-kilometer pipeline from the pump station to where the pipe enters the air force base system was without any manhole.

Also read: Sewage makes life miserable for Hoedspruit residents

“That means it is almost impossible to find the blockage without breaking the pipe, which will lead to longer downtime and a possible sewage spill where the pipe is broken to detect the blockage,” she said. After a meeting to address the problem at the time, James Cary, general manager of Raptor’s View Wildlife Estate, told the Herald that the meeting was attended by Siphokazi Depa and Takalani Mudau from the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS).

He told the Herald that the officials of DWS were based in Nelspruit but service the Olifants River Water Supply System. Helm also attended the meeting and Peter Bradford (SCS), Maurice Compton from Raptors Escapes, Boitumelo Ntshebela, the maintenance superintendent from MDM, other MDM staff members as well as Petros Ngobeni from the Maruleng Municipality’s (MM) technical department.

Herald contacted the Hoedspruit SAPS spokesperson, Sgt Kenneth Malele on the allegations and he said that the DA has been assisted. “Usually, these cases are dealt with through lawyers, and we assisted them in opening an enquiry after which the prosecutor will assist in the way forward,” he said.