DA lays charge against municipal manager over sewerage pipeline

MOKOPANE – MOGALAKWENA Municipality’s municipal manager, Pule Selepe is facing criminal charges after the DA laid a charge against him on Monday at the Mokopane police station for the municipality’s deliberate pollution of the Dorps River by cutting holes in the sewerage pipeline where it crosses over the river.

According to a media statement by Beyers Smit, DA member of parliament and constituency head for Mogalakwena: “the sewerage is pumped into the river system and Selepe now faces a criminal investigation after violating the National Water Act 36 of 1998 sections 151 (1)(i) and (2), the (Nema) National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 sections 49 (A)(1)(e) and (f), section 24 of the Constitution, as well as a directive of the Municipal Finance Management Act.

“The municipality also deliberately ignored continuous calls by the DA since 2010 to fix the sewerage system, causing great harm to the environment and a massive health risk to the residents of Mogalakwena living adjacent to the river.

“It is clear that holes were cut at the top of the sewerage pipes so that it can overflow into the Dorps River when the system is overloaded and overflowing. This caused significant environmental pollution and degradation while failing to take reasonable measures to address this crisis.”

Penalties for environmental offences in terms of Nema range between R5 million or five year imprisonment and R10 million or 10 year imprisonment, reported Smit.

“The DA is committed to ensuring this individual, as the accounting officer, is held accountable and that maximum sanction be imposed by the court if found guilty.”

On Wednesday morning, Smit told Bosveld: “Suddenly after almost six years, the holes in the sewerage pipes were ‘fixed’ just before the police went to investigate, but the fact of the matter is this pipeline is now clogged and sewerage will start to overflow. The problem is not resolved they are only covering their illegal tracks.

“This has been an issue since 2010 and we have even reported the matter to the human rights commission, after which the Mogalakwena Municipality claimed that they have fixed the problem, but on investigation we found it was never resolved.

“The problem is not only the holes in the sewerage pipeline, but also the waste that has already polluted the river system, the municipality is going to have to clean it as well because for a lot of residents in Mogalakwena this is their water source”.

The Mogalakwena Municipality could not be reached for comment by the time Bosveld went for print.