Anger over Joe Gqabi spillage
DA says council must address sewage problems
THE DA in the Joe Gqabi district municipality has called for an intervention over a massive sewage spillage in Burgersdorp.
DA councillor Marina van Zyl said raw sewage has been spilling into the Stormberg Spruit River for more than a month, polluting the fresh water source in an already droughtstricken area.
“This follows another major sewage spill in Thembisa township in front of houses and a local school,” she said.
The ANC-led municipality was contravening the National Water Act and the National Environmental Management Act by neglecting it, she added.
“I have enquired at the municipality on the progress of solving this health risk and hazardous problem,” she said.
Van Zyl said the response was that the matter was due to vandalism to pump stations and cable theft. “In their letter, they said they had requested the assistance of the rapid response unit of the Department of Water and Sanitation, which indicated that it had no funds to assist,” she said.
Van Zyl said they would ask their representatives at the Bhisho Legislature and the National Assembly to raise the matter in the respective houses.
“We can no longer wait for the dysfunctional ANC-led municipality to resolve the sewer problems. We need to take harsh actions to stop the pollution of our scarce water sources,” she said.
Joe Gqabi spokesman Mandla Gceya said the district authority’s service delivery has been disrupted by criminals in the past three years, especially water and sanitation services.
“Walter Sisulu local municipality has been the worst affected by vandalism where copper wire, mechanical machinery, brick structures, metal roofs and the underground electrical supply was stolen,” he said.
“The equipment [in Burgersdorp] has been replaced more than twice over the past three years. We have begun rebuilding the sewage pump stations and replacing the borehole supply with significantly sturdier structures.”
Gceya said they had alerted Minister Nomvula Mokonyane’s department to the problem.
“We have requested additional funding from the DWS to deal with the matter,” said Gceya.
He said the programme had cost the district over R17-million and the cost had been escalating as new problems caused by the massive vandalism were identified.
“The municipality is appealing to the members of the community to refrain from and also report these criminal activities which are stagnating service delivery,” he said. —