A local resident has taken it upon herself to petition President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare the Vaal River system a provincial disaster and I too, am in support of this.
The petition draws attention to the fact that every day that passes by we are in danger as our streets, homes, schools, offices and parks are awash with sewage.
Viccky Becker, raises a serious fact when she makes one aware that not one of the Waste Water Treatment Works under the control of Emfuleni Local Municipality is fully operational, resulting in over 100 million litres of raw sewage being pumped into the Vaal River System every single day. The ELM is under partial administration and is non-functional.
Most of the 44 sewage pump stations designed to lift the sewage to the treatment works are completely out of commission.
Many sections of the 2600 kms of waste water pipes are broken and have been left unrepaired for weeks or months.
We are in danger!
The sooner President Cyril Ramaphosa declares the Vaal River system a provincial disaster the better as I understand that this will trigger a co-ordinated approach to the issue from a number of government departments and would also unlock funds to enable the work to be done.
Almost 2000 signatures have been garnered for the petition and once significant numbers have been gathered Baker intends to present the petition to the office of the President.
The petition calls on the President to listen to the calls of the suffering people of the Vaal. I urge you to sign it now, please support this great initiative.
We are in danger!
Lerato wa ha Serero…
