The FF Plus lodged a complaint with the police about water resources in the Msukaligwa Local Municipality (Ermelo, Breyten, Chrissiesmeer, Lothair, Davel) being polluted with sewage.
The cause of the pollution is poor and negligent municipal management.
The complaint was lodged against Msukaligwa’s Municipal Manager, Mr Maqhawe Kunene, as the Municipality’s accounting official as well as the Director of Technical Services, Ms Precious Zodwa Duma, under whose Department sewage disposal falls.
The community of Ermelo fears that their health may suffer and that the local ecosystem may be seriously damaged seeing as untreated sewage from sewage lines and blocked drains is flowing into the local marshlands which, in turn, feed the Pet Dam.
In addition to the sewage spilling into the Pet Dam, leaving a trail of pollution and death in the natural environment, this Dam’s overflow joins the Klein Drinkwater Stream, which ultimately ends up in the already severely polluted Vaal River. Given the cholera outbreak recently reported in Gauteng, it is extremely alarming that such high levels of untreated sewage are flowing downstream through numerous settlements and agricultural regions.
The FF Plus has sent several letters highlighting the sewage pollution to both the Municipal Manager and the Speaker, Ntombifuthi Xaba, since September 2022. There has been no response to these letters.
The FF Plus also voiced its concern about the pollution during a general council meeting in August.
Numerous requests for action to be taken were blatantly ignored.
Meanwhile, fish have started dying in the Pet Dam over the last two weeks. Schools in the area also contacted the FF Plus, complaining of the unbearable sewage stench.
Many school children reportedly developed headaches as a result of the stench.
The FF Plus responded by having a water quality test performed.
The results that just came in are shocking. High levels of E. coli (sewage) pollution was detected in the Pet Dam. The Municipal Manager’s apparent unwillingness to avert this ecological disaster, despite numerous warnings, has compelled the FF Plus to proceed with lodging the criminal complaint.
It is an absolute shame that the essential resource sustaining life in South Africa, namely water, is being endangered by lax and incompetent local ANC governments, such as in Msukaligwa.
The FF Plus will keep fighting for residents’ right to live and work in a clean environment.
Msukaligwa deserves better than the ANC.
