While conducting an oversight visit in Phalaborwa, Leon Basson MP and Lindie Wilson, DA Constituency Head Phalaborwa, Maruleng and Tzaneen were horrified to come across a river of raw sewerage, running into a stream and into the Selati River.
Residents in Topville Village in Namankgale alerted the DA to sewerage leaks in the village.
This has been reported to the Ba Phalaborwa Municipality over several months, but remained unattended.
The Phalaborwa Herald’s reporter, Mtome Selebemetsa also reported on this.
The stench of sewerage reached them long before they reached the site. Almost every manhole along the stream was spewing raw sewerage.
The stream had become a river of running sewerage.
Not far away, another site was exposed. Some months ago the Municipality made an attempt to replace pipes and dug channels for the pipes.
They ran out of pipes in April and the project was abandoned. The site has now been standing dormant since April, with raw sewerage damming the in the channels.
This too is seeping out into another stream that joins the Selati Rivier and runs into the Kruger National Park.
Unsurprisingly, residents reported that the children in homes along the river were constantly ill as a result.
They were told that the situation had been going on for many months and that, since July 2014, the matter had been reported to the HOD of Technical Services, the Speaker and the Mayor of Ba Phalaborwa Municipality.
On Monday evening it was announced on the radio in Ba Phalaborwa that DA MPs were in Ba Phalaborwa on oversight and that the sewerage system was going to be investigated on Tuesday.
Shortly after their arrival in Topville, a team from Ba Phalaborwa Municipality arrived and started to dig holes around the river to expose the pipes.
It was apparent that they were alerted to the visit. They began asking the residents why they had turned to the DA.
The Mayor of Ba Phalaborwa, Anna Sono, must explain why, after months of reporting the matter, it was not attended to, resulting in serious health risks to the community and possible damage to the ecosystem and threats to wildlife in the Kruger National Park.
