The Mogale City Local Municipality (Krugersdorp, Magaliesburg, Muldersdrift) is the latest culprit dumping large quantities of raw sewage in ground water, tributaries and rivers.
An oversight visit, accompanied by environmental conservationists, revealed that both the Flip Human and the Percy Stewart sewage works are dysfunctional, and that raw sewage is being dumped into the Blaauwbanks and Rietspruit tributaries that flow into the Vaal and Crocodile Rivers which eventually end up in the Hartebeespoort Dam, among others.
Several pump stations in the Municipality are also dysfunctional or unable to accommodate the volume of sewage flowing through the system.
The overflow of the pump stations at Magaliesburg, Munsieville and Pine Haven further exacerbates the large-scale sewage dumping and consequent pollution of water in the Cradle of Humankind, which resulted in agricultural operations coming to a standstill and tourist resorts closing their doors.
Raw, untreated sewage from the Brickvale housing project at Tarlton, which is built on dolomite, goes straight into the ground water seeing as its pump station never became operational.
In addition to polluting the area’s ground water, it also contributes to the formation of sink holes in the dolomitic rock.
Moreover, Mogale City is in the process of constructing the Dr Sefularo Village high-density housing project at Hekpoort, which does not comply with the requirements of SPLUMA legislation.
This development’s sewage overflow is currently under construction and will discharge directly above the Magalies River.
For the past twelve years, Mogale City has ignored pleas from the public, environmentalists and councillors to step in and avert a humanitarian disaster.
Frequent testing by the CSIR has rated the water in the Cradle of Humankind as the poorest quality categories, namely E and F.
The matter has been brought to the attention of the MEC for Environmental Affairs in Gauteng, Shyla Peters.
The FF Plus will soon head an extensive oversight visit to the area by the relevant Portfolio Committee with the aim of prompting provincial and national interventions to avert a crisis.
Several dysfunctional municipalities in Gauteng are responsible for large-scale pollution and are, by implication, also violating the National Environmental Management Act and the World Heritage Convention Act.
The FF Plus will keep striving to hold the executive authority on local as well as on provincial and national level accountable through its portfolio.
