MBOMBELA- Leaders of AfriForum in the province have accused the Lekwa Local Municipality of polluting the Vaal River. According to the forum this has since endangered the lives of local residents and that of their livestock.
The party alleged that the sewage flowed from leaking pipes into the river, and blamed it all on the municipality. AfriForum’s provincial coordinator, Mr Hein Gonzales, stressed that the party was troubled by the continuing situation while the local municipality seemed not to take any steps to stop the pollution or clean up the sewage.
“Residents from rural communities drink from this river which is contaminated, and this is a huge concern for us. The conduct of the municipality is against the constitutional rights of the residents. The municipality has to take accountability and correct this situation,” said Gonzales.
He further blamed the municipality of mismanagement of funds.
“It appears that the sewage spillage is caused by leakages in the pipes, attributed to bad management and a lack in funds. While the latest report of the Auditor-General shows that municipalities in Mpumalanga wasted R2 billion in the 2013/2014 financial year. The money could’ve been spent on infrastructure maintenance to prevent crises like this.”
He added that AfriForum opened two criminal cases against the local municipal manager last year in connection with sewage spillage but up to date nothing had been done.
When Mpumalanga News asked Gonzales whether the party had received any complaints from people who used that river, he said, “We have had reported cases, but unfortunately the doctors and residents in town are too afraid to give us any statements.”
Lekwa spokesman, Mr Sipho Mkhwanazi said the municipality had partly fixed its sewer-treatment plant and had recently changed their focus to prioritise water and sanitation.
“We acknowledge that there is a problem with our sewer-treatment works but we have so far been able to partly fix our sewer-treatment plant. The problem is that the infrastructure is old and previously there was no maintenance budget but we have recently changed our focus to water and sanitation,” said Mkhwanazi.
He refuted the claims that the municipality was not doing anything in that regard. “We have started fixing the problems and of course we still need millions of rands.”
Mkhwanazi stated that the municipality was not aware of AfriForum’s move of appointing a contractor to fix the sewer.
He added that there were no reported cases of sick people due to using water from the Vaal River.
