The DA has laid criminal charges against Madibeng local municipality mayor Jostina Mothibe, and municipal manager Morris Maluleka, for their alleged role in the municipality’s continuing water and sanitation crisis.
The Madibeng district municipality, which includes the town of Brits, has suffered sporadic water outages as long ago as 2012. This North West municipality has posted monthly warnings of water outages and toxic piped water since that year. Some of the interruptions have lasted for several months.
In 2014, three people died from water-related illnesses and the resulting community protests and clashes with police resulted in more deaths.
In June 2015, Trevor Balzer, the deputy director-general in the Department of Water and Sanitation, told a local newspaper, the Kormorant, that by 2017, Madibeng would have some of the cleanest water in the country due to sophisticated infrastructure and ozone treatment. However, he conceded that maintenance was "a challenge".
DA councillor Erna Rossouw said on Tuesday that municipal officials had been charged under the National Water Act and the National Environmental Management Act, as well as the Constitution, for allegedly failing to manage and maintain the water and sanitation systems.
Rossouw said the conditions posed a serious health risk to the people and the environment of Madibeng as it had escalated to a point where sewerage overflowed into the streets.
She said the DA had lodged various complaints directly with the municipality, with no result. "In certain areas, the community cannot use their toilets, and sewerage is overflowing from manholes. This is due to a blocked sewerage system as a result of nonfunctioning pumps."
She said that, in some places, sewerage did not reach the municipality’s main sewerage works because of faulty pumps. "These pump stations, feeding the main sewer works, have been operating without a telemetric system for the past year and has been experiencing other problems with security and inadequate electrical connections.
Pumps in other pump stations have reportedly now also broken down."
Besides faeces-borne pathogens, Hartbeespoort Dam, the main dam in the area, is chronically affected by eutrophication, a condition caused by an excessive volume of nutrients in the water. This, in turn, causes cyanobacterial blooms. When certain cyanobacteria cells die, they release toxins that can kill humans and other animals.
The Hartbeespoort agricultural scheme below the dam provides irrigation water to SA’s largest winter vegetable crop district, but phytosanitary concerns because of eutrophication have compromised exports, farmers unions have reported as long ago as 2008.
Neither the mayor nor water administrator Magalies Water had responded at the time of writing.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.