Pollution of the Vaal River is still not addressed.
The Standerton Advertiser published an article in November last year about raw sewage flowing into the river.
A community worker, Pheello Mlotshwa, drew attention to a defunct pump station at TLC.
According to Mlotshwa, trucks dumped sewage daily at the station while the pumps were not running.
The sewage reached a manhole from where it is pushed upwards towards the nearby houses.
The contractor at that stage did not officially hand over the project.
Mlotshwa said on Thursday, July 7 this year that renovations are being done at the pump station.
The Standerton Advertiser contacted the communications manager of Lekwa, Thobeka Mtshiselwa, via WhatsApp, on November 10 last year.
Enquiries were made to a) whether there has been a delay in the official handing over of the pump station at TLC; b) reason/s for this delay; c) why trucks still dump raw sewage at TLC and d) whether a policy for protection of environmental resources has yet been drafted.
No comment has been received as yet.
In June the same year, the newspaper ran an article about the appalling conditions at the Standerton River Park after skips, near the surrounding flat blocks, were removed.
Four open-water swimmers swam 16km of the Vaal River to raise awareness of its contamination and to help seek solutions.
They began on March 5 last year and swam 8.5km to the old bridge on the Meyerville-side.
The park was cleaned with the help of the swimmers, the community, Lekwa Clean Up Crew and AfriForum, Standerton donated gloves to the workers.
The Standerton Advertiser sent a WhatsApp-message to Mtshiselwa, on June 24 last year, asking the reason why the skips were removed.
Msthiselwa outlined the reason, saying most of the skips were damaged and the agent responsible for the flats, requested that it be removed.
The tenants were complaining about the skips always being full and burning.
According to her, the other problem was that as soon as the bins were cleaned, community members not living in the flats, brought their refuse and dumped it in the bins.
Within a day the bins were full again.
Mtshiselwa then said rubbish is dumped by street kids, who collect the bags when placed outside for collection, taking it to the river park.
Lekwa Clean Up Crew and Northern Light Foundation are some of the organisations that clean the park.
Wilma Venter, councillor of the Freedom Front Plus for Ward 10, said on Friday, July 8 that they will hold the municipality accountable to clean the area around the river park, as well as to put an end to the large-scale pollution due to garbage being dumped in the river and river park.
“We also ask the community to stop illegal dumping at the park and to help keep the environment clean,” Venter said.
