The Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) today requested the Gauteng MEC for Environmental Affairs, Evan Botha, to immediately and decisively intervene in the ongoing sewerage crisis in the Mogale City Local Municipality (Krugersdorp, Magaliesburg, Muldersdrift).
The situation has become progressively worse over time with serious and frequent untreated sewage spills occurring at the pump station in Pine Haven Estates.
These spills pollute wetlands, groundwater and, ultimately, the Crocodile River. In another incident, a burst pipe in Tarlton caused untreated sewage to spray into the air, creating a serious health and environmental risk.
The Freedom Front Plus-led Gauteng Portfolio Committee on Environmental Affairs has on several occasions confronted the Municipality about the extensive sewage spills as well as the collapse of the Percy Stewart Waste Water Treatment Works. It resulted in the severe pollution of the Blougat Tributary and the Crocodile River and also caused several tourism attractions in the Cradle of Humankind to close their doors. Even the groundwater in this UNESCO World Heritage Site is severely polluted.
Additional incidents at the Flip Human Waste Water Treatment Works, leaks at the Brickvale pump station resulting in sewage seeping into the dolomitic soil of Tarlton, and risky overflow infrastructure at the Dr Sefularo housing development that discharges sewage into the Magalies River at Hekpoort confirm a pattern of systemic failure.
In the Freedom Front Plus’s view, the Municipality is unable to fulfil its constitutional mandate. The party has also requested that the Gauteng Department of Environmental Affairs urgently institute legal action against the accountable officials and the Municipality.
Dringende administratiewe en strukturele ingryping is nodig om verdere omgewingskade te voorkom.
Sustainable solutions are, however, only attainable through a regime change that will bring about sound governance, professional administration and genuine accountability.
The Freedom Front Plus is fully committed to a solution-based approach and will, after the November 2026 municipal elections, play a key role in a stable coalition government striving to get Mogale City back on the right track towards recovery and sustainability.
