Vaal Barrage heritage infrastructure vulnerable
It’s not only in Cape Town where the Houses of Parliament’s heritage was under siege of wanton fire on 2 January 2022. Also in Emfuleni infrastructure plunder and theft has now reared its ugly face at our aquatic heritage sites on the Vaal River Barrage.
On 28 December I conducted fieldwork along the Vaal River between the Vaal Dam where two sluices had been opened to reduce the 107% capacity of the dam. The trip also required visits to several sites in Vereeniging and the Barrage weir.
In Mario Milani Drive I stopped at Rand Water’s Vereeniging pump station, completed in 1923. For the better part of the twentieth century, the pump station was a prime provider of Vaal Dam water to the former Witwatersrand area of today’s Gauteng Province.
Not only was the modern guard house at the entrance of the pump station severely plundered. A number of panels of the pump station’s front door were missing.
I heard intermittent hammering inside the building. Upon entering I saw two youths chiseling away at a cement structure with hammers, presumably in search of metals. It was apparent that the pump station was vulnerable to destruction by plunder and theft.
When I asked the males what they were doing, they looked at me for a moment before merely resuming their chiseling away at the river’s cultural heritage.
Up to the present Rand Water has been exemplary in the protection of the Vaal Barrage weir complex. I also stopped there on December 28. The guard at the gate was firm, but friendly, when she told me no photographs could be taken of the structure. I then took some pics of the river and weir downstream.
We have become all too complacent about infrastructure plunder and theft. No matter where in the country it happens, it represents an onslaught on our country’s heritage and moral fibre. Hundreds of municipalities have fallen victim to the destruction of water and wastewater infrastructure.
The Vaal Barrage Management Area’s catchments of the Klip River, Blesbokspruit, Rietspruit and Leeu-Taaibosspruit have all fallen victim to these crimes. It has a profound effect on the Vaal River Barrage storage system and its social ecology. Since the early 2000s local catchment forums have frequently discussed these incidents.
It is also evident in a 2019 criminological report by the South African Revenue Protection Agency (SARPA). The agency relied for much of its information on Combine Private Investigations (CPI), a private company founded by South African mining companies, a number of municipalities and Eskom.
In the Ekurhuleni Metro 1707 suspects had been arrested between April 2007 and June 2018. Of these 236 people had been arrested and 263 were still awaiting trial in 2019. At the time of a 2018 clean-up operation in a Midvaal informal settlement, four tonnes of copper and one ton of aluminium cable were recovered by the CPI.
The SARPA report found that between 1998 and 2002 the theft of conductors/cables and other infrastructure of Eskom had increased by 500%. A 2019 press release by the Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality, reported that it experienced infrastructure and heritage destruction of as much as R500 million annually.
Both Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg’s metros rely on the Vaal River Barrage catchments to dispose of their sewage and stormwater. Eskom’s infrastructure remains vulnerable at times of load shedding. Also municipal water and wastewater systems are affected. Many rely on Eskom for power supply.
In a year when we enter the centenary celebrations of Rand Water’s Barrage, we need to work with the authorities on bringing to an end the wanton destruction of our infrastructure and our sense of pride in our catchment of the Vaal River Barrage.
The following Hotline numbers may be called to report any instances of water-related crime (free of charge): Rand Water Hotline: 0800 212 364; and DWS 0800 200 200.
