THE increasing cases of failed or delayed service delivery have prompted local DA ward councillors to get together to amplify their voices in service of the community.
DA Deputy Shadow Minister of Environmental Affairs, Forestry and Fisheries Hannah Winkler and DA South Durban Basin councillors JP Prinsloo, Sharmaine Sewshanker, Aubrey Snyman, Shad Nowbuth and Sithembiso Ngema met to embark on an initiative to put pressure on the municipality and national government to address pollution in the South Durban Basin, as well as conducting oversight.
“The South Durban Basin has been long-plagued by poor air quality from the petrochemical industry concentration and logistics sector in the area.
“This has grossly impacted on the well-being of residents in the area who complain of a host of respiratory illness and other ailments, not to mention the numerous environmentally devastating incidents that have degraded the area,” said Winkler.
Chemical and waste pollution in streams and rivers have also become synonymous with the South Durban Basin, destroying ecosystems and impacting on local communities. Illegal dumping has also taken a turn for the worse degrading the last remaining green spaces in an already overly-industrialised area.
“The DA will be submitting a series of questions at a municipal, provincial and national level to access data on air and water pollution in the area.”
“We will push for quality data from the air quality monitoring stations, regular maintenance of stations and the introduction of new air quality monitors in problem areas, as well as transparency in public access to these results heftier fines for polluters and access to information on who these polluters are, the clean-up of green spaces through community Adopt-a-Spot programmes, stream cleaning of invasive and over-grow bush,” Winkler added.
“We will be working in tandem with NGOs and the community to get government to deliver on its mandate. The toxic eye-sore that has become the South Durban Basin must receive the attention that it deserves by officials.”
“Enough is enough – the residents and environmental well-being of this area has for too long been neglected,” she added.
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