Komatipoort’s water woes: Resident finds fish in the tap, sewage spills galore

The last thing anyone wants when turning on their kitchen tap in the morning is to find a fish swimming in the water, but that is exactly what happened to Lené Roux, chair of the Komatipoort Despondent Residents Association (KDRA) about a year ago.

Although tiny, it was unmistakably alive and well. Roux caught it and transferred it to her koi pond.

“At least it had a chance to survive,” she says.

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While this may sound like a comical experience, dirty drinking water is no laughing matter.

Decidedly less comical is the raw sewage that flows everywhere in town and has residents and visitors gasping for fresh air.

It’s no wonder KDRA members turned to the high court for help after their pleas to the Nkomazi Local Municipality fell on deaf ears.

The stench from the sewage spills was at times so bad that guests staying at Roux’s guest house in Komatipoort refused to eat in the dining room.

Evacuation

The Transnet building in the town had to be evacuated due to repeated sewage spills into the building, and customers had to wade through sewage to get to the local supermarket and hardware store.

The Crocodile River has been contaminated and a leak at the Orlando pump station in the town has resulted in raw sewage flowing into the communal vegetable garden where residents grow spinach, maize and tomatoes for their own consumption and to sell.

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This and the swarms of flies attracted by the mess pose a major health hazard.

Apart from a few technical points, the municipality did not raise much of an objection and ruled on 19 April that there is a water shortage and sewage spillage in Komatipoort and surrounding areas that spills into the Crocodile River, thereby causing a health hazard to the communities.

It added that the waste disposal sites and sewerage works in Komatipoort are not well managed and need urgent attention, since they are the cause of the sewage spillage.

Court order

The court ordered the municipality and its municipal manager to urgently take steps to address the causes of the sewage spillage and rehabilitate the contaminated sites. They must also provide potable water to the residents.

They must report back to the court within 21 days.

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The court also authorised the residents to appoint an expert to monitor the sewerage works for a period of 12 weeks, at the municipality’s cost, and compile a report to be submitted to the court.

Roux says residents are grateful for the order, but need to see how the municipality responds.

Up to Friday (April 26), Nkomazi municipality had however not taken any steps to stop the spillage of raw sewage, says Vidette Roux, attorney at Kotze and Roux Attorneys who is representing the residents. In fact, ever since the residents took the matter up in January 2023, there has been little response.

“Our expert [has been] in Komatipoort since 25 April and last week Thursday raw sewerage was still flowing from three different points,” says Vidette Roux.

“At one of the points the municipality took steps to unblock the pipes, but they failed to stop the spillage once and for all.”

She says the municipality has 21 days from the date of the order and thereafter the expert appointed by the residents will continue to monitor the situation.

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If the problem has not been resolved within the 21-day period, the residents will return to court with the expert’s report, show the court that the municipality has failed to adhere to the order, and ask that the expert be allowed to take over the management of the sewerage works and supply of clean drinking water.

They will also ask the court to send the municipal manager to jail for contempt of court, she says.

This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here