Emfuleni local municipality Basic Services MEC Counsellor Bheki Ntsele will chair the newly established task team, which will meet for the first time on November 11.

Speaking at a ‘Save the Vaal’ stakeholder engagement meeting in Vanderbijlpark on Monday, Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister David Mahlobo called for rapid solutions for the communities impacted on by the pollution of the Vaal River.

“The main aim of the meeting was to bring different stakeholders together and come up with alternative solutions to the ailing wastewater treatment works network system (Sebokeng, Rietspruit and Leeuwkuil) connected to the Integrated Vaal River System.”

“The meeting agreed that it is futile to keep on pointing fingers at one another and it is in the interest of the affected communities to work towards a common goal to address the wastewater treatment works’ capacities in the Vaal”. This followed Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation Mahlobo emphasised on the need to establish a task team comprising representatives from the Water Research Commission and the Agricultural Research Council, besides others.

“This area has a problem of a high unemployment rate, and this proposal has potential to bring thousands of jobs to the doorstep of the people. We should not let our differences, of any kind, hinder us from focusing on the most important task at hand,” he said, requesting all stakeholders to work together.