Municipal manager faces 11 environmental cases

This is after she appeared in the Lydenburg Regional Court on 11 cases of the alleged contravention of the Environmental Act, as TCLM’s accounting officer.

Thaba Chweu Local Municipality’s (TCLM) municipal manager, Sphiwe Matsi, appeared in the Lydenburg Regional Court on Monday April 11.

Matsi is the accounting officer in 11 cases of alleged violations of the National Environmental Management Act (Nema) of 2008.

The charges Matsi is facing carry a possible fine of R10m or a sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment per charge if she is found guilty.

The investigation against TCLM is being led by inspectors of the Mpumalanga Environmental Affairs, the Green Scorpions, and the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS), the Blue Scorpions. Themba Sibiya, the municipality’s spokesperson, partly blamed vandalism and poor security for the issues TCLM is facing.

He addressed the media on Monday April 11 after the municipal manager had appeared in court.

“Vandalism and crime are playing a huge role. We would love security guards at the sites to protect the infrastructure. In the meantime, we have appointed the necessary service providers, with a budget of R15m, to fix the water treatment plant,” said Sibiya.

He did not give a comment on how TCLM would assist the community while it is “fixing these issues” that have been points of contention for years. Spiros Couvaras, DA councillor, said after the court appearance of Matsi that the DA is investigating and deciding whether it will ask for the municipal manager’s suspension while the court case is pending.

“We will study the correct municipal procedures before we make a decision on this issue,” said Couvaras. The Spekboom River supplies the Watervalsrivier Valley and Burgersfort farmers, and communities downstream next to the R37. Sewage is flowing directly into the river. The charges include the sewage spillage and a pool of sewage in Ext 2.

The cases were opened at the Lydenburg Police Station on various dates in 2020. The Green and Blue Scorpions started compiling the evidence at the sites in April and May 2021, after it was transferred to them by the Lydenburg SAPS. Gravette Herbst (since retired), Sonja Boshoff (DA member of parliament), Couvaras and Comfort Sibiya opened the cases with Pompies Ledwaba (Mashishing Civic Coalition) and George Viljoen (Kellysville community leader and political activist).

During the Scorpion’s site inspections in November 2020, April 2021, August 2021 and in February this year, it was made clear that the town’s only water treatment plant was vandalised and had not been operational for about five years.

The first article about the investigation was published in Steelburger/Lydenburg News on November 20, 2020. Eight articles have been published over the past 16 months. The Scorpions took soil and water samples at all the sites during all its inspections. Another issue is the sewage flowing into the Marambane River behind Mashishing.

There the sewer water formed a stream from Marambane Pump Station, directly into the river. The paper accompanied the DA councillors on an on-site visit on all their investigations on April 28, 2021, and in January this year, to ascertain if improvements had been made.

The Lydenburg Landfill Site and the air pollution it creates are also part of the investigation. On October 5, 2021, George Viljoen, a DA candidate at the time and Kellysville community activist, had the paper view the human excrement bubbling out of a manhole in Kellysville.

The paper accompanied the DA councillors on an on-site visit on all their investigations on April 28, 2021, and in January this year, to ascertain if improvements had been made. The Lydenburg Landfill Site and the air pollution it creates are also part of the investigation. On October 5, 2021, George Viljoen, a DA candidate at the time and Kellysville community activist, had the paper view the human excrement bubbling out of a manhole in Kellysville.

The excrement flowed that the report is welcomed by the DA and it trusts the necessary court procedures. and that justice will prevail.

“TCLM has in all probability transgressed every single regulation of Nema. For the past eight years, there has been a severe sewage crisis in TCLM. The current wastewater treatment plant is dysfunctional and is discharging raw sewage into our freshwater reserves and onto our land. This poses a serious health risk to the community and to those who use water from our rivers downstream. The residents of Ext 2 in Ward 14 have for the past 10 years been exposed to the most inhumane living conditions to which TCLM has continuously turned a blind eye. It is clear that the officials of TCLM have no idea how to run the municipality and there is no consequence management for those in charge of water and sanitation. Nobody is taking responsibility,” said Boshoff.

Boshoff said the main reasons for the residents of TCLM being exposed to these conditions are the lack of institutional knowledge, incompetence, deficiency in skills of operations, lack of maintenance of existing infrastructure, and a lack of finances.

“Officials are unable to follow simple guidelines and regulations, to the detriment of the residents,” she said. The case was postponed to Monday June 13. The DWS was unable to provide comment as the court case is sub judice. TCLM is also under investigation South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC). The report handed in at the SAHRC states that residents have been subjected to poor basic service delivery for approximately 15 years. It includes court application details brought against the provincial and national governments to intervene in terms of Section 139 of the Constitution.