The DA has called on the Mogale City local municipality to immediately secure the Delporton Honeysucker dumping site to prevent overwhelming the overloaded Percy Stewart wastewater treatment plant, which has been malfunctioning for years.
Securing the area, said DA Gauteng environmental affairs spokesperson Jade Miller, would stop further contamination of local water networks in the environmentally sensitive area.
Business Day reported in 2023 that for years, untreated or partially treated sewage had been flowing from the malfunctioning Percy Stewart wastewater treatment plant into the Blougatspruit, which flows into the Bloubankspruit and Crocodile River, all the way into Hartbeespoort Dam.
The Bloubankspruit, on the other hand, flows through the core of the Cradle of Humankind world heritage site where prominent business people and a number of wealthy people live.
The pollution, which is threatening the ecosystem and local tourism and has become a health hazard, has existed for years pitting Mogale City officials with an association fighting to preserve the area.
“While critical repairs at Percy Stewart are under way following community pressure and high-profile oversight visits, serious concerns remain about the broader environmental risks in the area. The nearby honeysucker dumping site remains unsecured after its security contract expired in mid-2024, turning it into an unregulated dumping ground,” Miller said.
“Local reports indicate that abattoir truck contents and chemicals are being dumped illegally, compromising water quality and undermining the wastewater treatment plant's effectiveness.
“The Percy Stewart plant currently processes 18 megalitres of sewage daily and treats approximately 80% of effluent before discharging it into the local water system. However, illegally dumped chemicals and raw sewage are still entering the water network, creating a serious public health and environmental crisis.”
Miller said if the Mogale City-led administration were committed to ensuring that “our residents live in an environment free of pollution, it would immediately conduct an investigation to determine who is responsible for disposing hazardous waste at the honeysucker dumping site”.
“A DA Gauteng-led provincial government would immediately appoint a security company to prevent further illegal dumping. This will ensure that the gates are locked after hours to restrict unauthorised access. Municipal officials will be on-site to register and monitor incoming waste.”
In October 2023, water and sanitation deputy minister David Mahlobo said the government was going to start litigating against municipalities that polluted water sources and discharged billions of litres of effluent into water streams across the country.
He said R2.8bn was needed to get these waste water treatment works into good working condition.
There are about 850 wastewater treatment plants in SA. KwaZulu-Natal accounts for 137, the Western Cape has 158, with 18 not performing well, and the Eastern Cape accounts for 123, with 48 operating below standard, the deputy minister said.
The country’s 257 municipalities have a fair share of dysfunctional wastewater treatment works, with many having fallen apart and discharging raw sewage into rivers, the ocean and environmentally sensitive areas
Mariette Liefferink, CEO of the Federation for a Sustainable Environment, a nongovernmental organisation seeking solutions to sewage pollution of streams and rivers, lodged a complaint with Unesco about two years ago, over raw sewage emanating from the Percy Stewart Waste Water Treatment Works and flowing through the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. Liefferink called on the international body to intervene in the sewage pollution of the environmentally sensitive area.
She told Business Day that the Delporton Honeysucker dumping site was secured with funding from landowners within the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site to prevent illegal dumping. “Regrettably, the current situation at the Delporton Honeysucker dumping site, according to the statement by the DA, is resulting in ongoing pollution,” Liefferink said.
“Secondly, the statement by the DA highlights the complexities of pollution (for example, political interference and lack of skilled and experienced technical staff, blocked and overflowing sewers within the system; vandalism of infrastructure) and the failure by the department of water and sanitation (DWS) to timeously enforce noncompliance of directives against mayors and municipal managers of Mogale City local municipality.”
Liefferink said the delays in the successful prosecution of delinquent polluters within Mogale City local municipality by the DWS, “the custodian of our scarce water resources; the National Prosecuting Authority; the SA Police Service and the department of forestry, fisheries and environment has resulted in a national disaster, according the the SA Human Rights Commission, pursuant to its inquiry into the sewage pollution of the Vaal River and the rivers of Tshwane”.
Trevor Brough, director of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site Association, who first alerted the Mogale City local municipality about pollution in the Blougatspruit river in July 2019, said there was a sewage pipeline that collapsed in Krugersdorp West in November 2024, “which hasn’t been repaired due to budgetary constraints”.
“A substantial amount of sewage is spilling out of manholes directly into the river system, completely bypassing Percy Stewart, which ends up flowing through the Cradle area,” Brough said.
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