A complaint lodged by the Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) about the pollution of, among other things, the Brits Dam by the Rooiwal wastewater treatment works north of Pretoria has had the desired effect and has been investigated by the national Department of Water and Sanitation.
Mr Theunis Vogel, a local farmer and aspiring Freedom Front Plus councillor candidate, lodged the complaint. The Department has confirmed in writing that its investigation identified possible violations of the National Water Act (Act 36 of 1998) by the Tshwane Metro. (Letter attached.)
The Department will institute appropriate legal steps to ensure that the violations are rectified.
Mr Vogel farms right next to the Apies River and has been embroiled in a legal battle with the Tshwane Metro since 2014 over the Rooiwal wastewater treatment works, which has not functioned properly for more than twelve years.
A staggering 75% of the plant is non-operational. The Metro appointed two contractors to repair it: first the controversial Edwin Sodi and, more recently, a company whose directors and shareholders are all Zimbabwean citizens.
The Metro has already paid more than R250 million to these contractors, yet massive volumes of raw sewage from the dysfunctional treatment works continue to spill into the Apies River, poisoning agricultural projects along the river and destroying farmers’ ability to produce.
It is good news that the national Department is intervening; it marks the culmination of Mr Vogel’s tireless and hard work to resolve the problem.
The Freedom Front Plus will closely monitor the Department’s actions and instituting of legal steps to ensure that the guilty parties are brought to book and that the plant is repaired as soon as possible.
