WATCH: Merebank community says enough is enough with the stink
Above the exasperated community's woes, they further have to put up with the terrible smells from the surrounding petrochemical and paper mill industries.
THE MEREBANK community banded together on Saturday afternoon, 13 March to send out a strong message to the municipality.
This comes after having endured the smell of faeces for years alleged to emanate from the Southern Waste Water Treatment Works’ (SWWTW) plant. The gathering was to echo the tune of enough is enough with the air pollution.
Above the exasperated community’s woes, they further have to put up with the terrible smells from the surrounding petrochemical and paper mill industries. Local organisations arranged the march.
These were the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance, Merebank Civic Committee, Helping Hands, Hands of the Givers, Merebank Athletic Club, Wentworth Angels, Merebank Fellowship of Christian Ministers, Merebank Fishermen’s Forum, Merebank Clinic Committee and local motorcyclists.
The Wentworth police, Metro police and a local security company were also there to enforce the law and ensure safety for all.
The group gathered at the corner of Badullah and Tara roads before marching to the gates of the plant. In their list of demands, the community asks the municipality to do everything within its power to realise their basic human rights to a clean and healthy environment.
They also demand the necessary corrective measures are taken to resolve the issue within 14 days. These include rectifying all problematic areas regarding the plant maintenance, stopping all intake of outside sewage and present periodic environmental reports.
eThekwini Municipality’s spokesperson, Msawakhe Mayisela, said that the foul smell in the community is as a result in the increased surface area of storage tanks two and three after the plant was upgraded. He said the city now stores more wastewater at the plant before it is pumped out.
“This also meant that all our pumps had to be working efficiently. We had a few issues with one of the pumps but both pumps have been working efficiently since December last year and the odour issue should stop.”
“Another problem at Southern Waste Water Treatment Works was due to damaged electrical equipment after the flash flood on New Year’s Eve. Unfortunately, due to the holidays, the extent of the damage, and the specialised work involved, it had been difficult to get us back online.”
“The power issue was eventually resolved in mid-February. We have engaged the community on various platforms. We apologise to the community for the inconvenience caused and request further patience and understanding as we manage the odour issue, as we are receiving reports that it persists,” he said.
Here are is the full memorandum:
We, the community of Merebank, represented by the following organisations:
- South Durban Community Environmental Alliance
- Merebank Civic Committee
- Helping Hands
- Hands of the Givers
- Merebank Athletic Club
- Merewent Angels
- Merebank Fellowship of Christian Ministers
- The Bikers
- Merebank Fishermen’s Forum
- Merebank Clinic Committee
Hereby bring to your notice that the Southern Waste Water Treatment Works (SWWTW) based in Merebank has greatly impacted our community by the unacceptable sewage smell emanating from the SWWTW plant.
The foul-smelling air has become a daily occurrence. The community is exasperated with putting up with the terrible smell. This is compounded with the pollution from the petrochemical and paper mill industries in the Durban South Basin.
Our community is living in an unhealthy environment which is impacting negatively on our quality of life. We are like prisoners in our own homes; shutting our doors and windows when having our meals (which provides little relief).
This has become more unbearable due to the hot, humid weather we are experiencing. At this time, during the Covid pandemic, we have been advised that adequate ventilation assists with curbing the spread of the virus. How are we to accomplish this when we are forced to shut our doors and windows?
Despite members of various organizations, led by SDCEA, engaging with you to resolve this issue, there has been no satisfactory result or intervention. You promised various solutions with time frames yet to be accomplished.
When the members of the community peacefully protested at your plant with a desire to speak to the management; they were denied access. The community should have been given the privilege to meet with management to voice their grievances.
Sadly, management ignored the plight of the community. Ingrained within our country’s constitution, is the need for accountability and transparency of state departments to its citizens.
Collaboration with relevant stakeholders (which includes affected communities) is vital to ensuring this. The reluctance of SWWTW to engage more frequently with the community does not reflect well.
The community is further frustrated as their efforts to engage the eThekwini Municipality remain fruitless. We often lodge complaints with the eThekwini call centre to report the foul stench.
However, their solution is to send contractors to clear our drains despite informing the agents that the stink is emanating from the SWWTW.
The community of Merebank hereby demands that the SWWTW and the eThekwini Municipality do everything within its power to realize our basic human rights to a clean, healthy environment.
We demand that you take the necessary corrective measures to resolve this issue within 14 days.
- To rectify all problematic areas regarding the plant maintenance and deodorizers to stop the foul odour plaguing our community
- Stop all intake of outside sewage
- Present Periodic Environmental Reports.
- Full disclosure of the meeting minutes in respect to the Environmental Impact Assessment process
- Failure to meet the above – we request a complete shut-down of the plant in the best interest of the community.
We will continue to intensify our protests till further notice and will engage with other stakeholders to ensure our demands are met.
Issued by
Convener Desmond D’Sa and Bongani Mthembu Â
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