Thaba Chweu Local Municipality found guilty on environmental degradation charges
The municipal manager, as accounting officer of TCLM, pleaded guilty to seven charges on Monday June 13.
The Lydenburg Regional Court has found Thaba Chweu Local Municipality (TCLM) guilty of seven charges in terms of the National Environmental Managing Act.
Sphiwe Matsi pleaded guilty to the charges on behalf of TCLM as its accounting officer and municipal manager.
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TCLM received a combined fine of R5m.
Magistrate MJ Ngobeni instructed TCLM to invest R4.8m of the R5m fine back into the infrastructure of the town for the improvement of sewage and water quality before the end of the year.
He also ordered the municipality to pay R100 000 to the Department of Water and Sanitation and R100 000 to the Department of Environmental Affairs.
The cases were investigated by the Mpumalanga Environmental Affairs’ Green Scorpions and the Department of Water and Sanitation’s Blue Scorpions.
The charges included contravention of the National Water Act 36 of 1988 and the pollution of the Dorps and Spekboom rivers in Wards 2, 12 and 14, and the mismanagement of the Lydenburg landfill site and two water treatment plants.
Spiros Couvaras, a DA councillor in TCLM, said the party is overjoyed by the sentencing. “We work for the community and to improve the quality of life. I want to thank the Green and Blue Scorpions for their continued support and investigation in the case that lead to the guilty sentence today.”
- Spiros Couvaras, DA Councillor TCLM.
Photos: Michelle Boshoff. Steelburger/Lydenburg News has written 11 articles about this case since November 2020 and has made the investigation a priority to report on.
