After numerous inquiries about the army vehicles an personnel in the Vaal, we place the article from Vaalweekblad 14 and November, online for clarity.
Vaal River Pollution: SA Defence force to the rescue
Craig Kotze
VANDERBIJLPARK. – With the SANDF expected to deploy this coming weekend against a deepening national crisis of Vaal River system pollution, both local business and municipality have fully welcomed the stabilization operation and promised their full support and cooperation.
The upcoming military mission – starting on this Sunday 18 November 2018 – is to first secure and protect water and electrical infrastructure and then to fully address the actual Vaal River and community sewage pollution crisis with a full spectrum of military and engineering capabilities. A top-level military delegation invited and hosted by the Golden Triangle Chamber of Commerce (GTCoC) at Stonehaven-on-Vaal last week made it clear that both National Government and the SANDF regarded the Vaal situation as a grave national crisis with impacts way beyond Emfuleni alone.
The operation is expected to last at least a year, Major General TT Xundu, Chief Director of the SANDF’s Corporate Services, told the GTCoC gathering. The GTCoC has played a pivotal role in recent months in securing national government attention for Emfuleni governance issues of which military intervention in the pollution crisis is the latest and has offered the SANDF full logistical and other support. “The GTCoC welcomes the SANDF intervention and we look forward to creating a cooperative platform and engagement process with them and other stakeholders so this vital work can be done and sustained. “What the GTCoC has been advocating has finally been heard by both national and provincial government which now clearly recognizes how close to the edge we are in Emfuleni,” said Jaco Verwey, GTCoC spokesperson. Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) Municipal Manager Oupa Nkoane is also understood to fully support the military intervention along with Executive Mayor Jacob Khawe but no formal comment was received from them at time of publication. The initial protection phase is expected to see hundreds of part-time SANDF soldiers deployed to protect and fence where necessary at least 46 infrastructure points throughout Emfuleni before both military and civilian experts deploy to solve the pollution crisis itself together.
Full planning for the operation was expected to be completed early this week but an SA Army advance team has already been in Emfuleni for some time under Colonel Andries Mahapa, the officer commanding 1 Construction Regiment in Dunottar, also in Gauteng Province. An official name for the SADF intervention is also expected to be announced soon. According to General Xundu it was necessary to first stabilize infrastructure assets as this was vital to resolving the actual pollution
crisis and the SANDF operation would therefore be fully integrated with Police and other local authority plans and coordination efforts.
