SAVE the VAAL attended a high level meeting with the Gauteng Premier’s Special Adviser and members of the Gauteng Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA). This department will be playing an important role in the turn-around strategy of Emfuleni Local Council. The decision to intervene in the affairs of the Emfuleni Local Council is in accordance with the decision of the National Cabinet. The pollution problems of the Vaal River are now being dealt with by Government at the highest level.
Whilst we cannot expect instant results, we were informed that the department is moving swiftly into action to ‘clean up Emfuleni’ with particular attention to the sewerage crisis, rubbish and potholes. Funds are being sourced from central Government and Gauteng Province will be providing resources.
Special attention is being given to the sewerage crisis. Residents of Three Rivers and the area around Redan which have been impacted by the total breakdown of the pump station 12, will be pleased to learn that
R20 million has been allocated to repair this system. This won’t be an overnight wonder, but at least efforts are being focused on this critical issue. A broad estimate for the repairs is some 13 months, with all funds ring-fenced for specific projects.
Vandalism and theft of infrastructure is a serious problem which costs millions daily. Efforts will be directed towards security of the pump stations.
Gauteng COGTA is in discussions with Eskom and Rand Water regarding repayment of the outstanding debts.
We were also informed that there is a strategy to stimulate private sector investment in Emfuleni, with four major projects thus far.
The Gauteng Premier is keen to engage with stakeholders. SAVE was requested to assist in identifying stakeholders.
SAVE the VAAL’s Chairman, Malcolm Plant, stressed the need to deal with current emergencies as soon as possible. SAVE the VAAL provided a list of priorities and will be following up on progress with these priorities. Further meetings are in the pipeline.
We were assured that these emergencies will be built into the short term plan if they are not already there. Importantly, SAVE was assured that the National Treasury would be providing the necessary funding.
There is also a focus on medium and long term planning to deal with capacity increases to cope with development.
We were indeed fortunate to have this opportunity and must thank our esteemed environmental legal specialist, Jeremy Ridl, who made direct contact with the Premier whilst on other business. The Premier promised a direct line of communication to him and his special adviser, and is proving true to his word. This augers well fore the way forward.
The strength of our court application and subsequent high court order in February 2018 is obviously a concern to the authorities. The next phase of our court action would have been to compel national Government to take responsibility for the problems on the Vaal, where local Government has failed so badly. The measures that have now been put in place are approximately what we would have asked the court to compel National Government to do. The various ministers and departments that are now taking action would have been respondents in our court action. We told the officials present that they and their ministers had narrowly averted being cited in court papers. We cautioned that our court application was on hold, not abandoned.
While SAVE believes that the efforts and concerns of Government are genuine, and that a workable plan to solve the problems is in place, the threat of court action is an important part of holding Government to account.
We would like to thank our legal team for their excellent work and their generosity to SAVE.
We have a long road to travel. SAVE needs the financial support of the community so that we can make full use of our legal team’s expertise during the ongoing discussions with Gauteng. SAVE has had the benefit of ‘with costs’ court orders which has helped enormously with legal expenses. However, we now need to fund these costs ourselves and cannot do this without the financial support of the community, so please donate generously to a cause that is in the interests of every individual in our community.
PHOTO: SAVE
PHOTO: SAVE
PHOTO: SAVE
