The FF Plus has lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) against the Polokwane Local Municipality (Pietersburg), which has not taken any steps to put an end to the large-scale dumping of untreated sewage into important rivers.
The party sent an urgent letter to the Mayor, Mr Makoro John Mpe, as well as the acting Municipal Manager, Ms Thuso Nemugumeni, about the matter in July 2022 already.
They were requested to immediately find a solution and address the sewage spilling from the Seshego sewage treatment plant, just outside Pietersburg, into the Blood River.
At the time, a plant official confirmed that most of the pumps are out of order and that there is not enough chemicals to treat the raw sewage.
The solids are basically separated from the rest, which is then pumped through and ends up in the Blood River that flows into the Sand River.
The Sand River, a tributary of the Limpopo River, is one of the country’s shorter and shallower rivers which flows from the south (Polokwane) to the north through the Soutpansberg.
Underground water sources have been so severely polluted that residents and farmers are no longer able to use their borehole water for human consumption.
In the meantime, the completion of this sewage treatment plant has been postponed in favour of the construction of a larger plant, the Seshego Wastewater Treatment Works.
There are not enough funds available to complete both projects simultaneously.
Moreover, it appears that municipal project managers are not closely adhering to the Department of Water Affairs’ guidelines for construction.
During an oversight visit to an incomplete bridge-building project in January this year, the Municipal Public Accounts Committee (MPAC), on which the FF Plus’s councillor, Susan Clark, serves, discovered that a stream of raw sewage flowing from the communities in Ward 8 (Extension 44) is also contributing to the pollution of the Sand River.
It is an utter disgrace that ANC-controlled municipalities are allowing natural resources to be polluted, putting communities’ health at risk.
Residents have an opportunity to get rid of the ANC in the upcoming elections.
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