National Council of Provinces passes motion against Thaba Chweu

A full house of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) passed a motion against Thaba Chweu Local Municipality (TCLM) in Cape Town last week.
The Mpumalanga Department of Environmental Affairs (Green Scorpions), the Department of Water and Sanitation (Blue Scorpions) in Mbombela, the DA and other relevant government departments could reopen criminal proceedings against

TCLM for violating the National Environmental Management Act (Nema) of 2008, according to the May 2022 court ruling.
On March 11, the DA’s Sonja Boshoff opened a new case against TCLM at the Lydenburg Police Station (Steelburger/Lydenburg News, Thursday March 16), for being in violation of several environmental acts.

As a DA Member of Parliament (MP), Boshoff presented the case to the NCOP. In May 2022, TCLM was sentenced to a R10m fine, of which R5m was suspended on the condition that TCLM is not convicted under Nema and the National Water Act in the next five years. R4.8m of the fine had to be used to upgrade the sewerage infrastructure before November 1.

TCLM and the state had negotiations that subsequently led to a plea bargain and a sentencing agreement in which TCLM pleaded guilty to seven counts relating to the contravention of the National Water Act.
With the continuous sewerage problems in Lydenburg, it has become evident that the court ruling of 2022 was not adhered to.

Boshoff said the DA had hoped that the verdict in 2022 would serve as a deterrent to TCLM.
“We can now reveal that the sewer spillages in Thaba Chweu have continued unabated, which is a contravention of the court ruling. TCLM had also promised to draw up a plan of action by the end of November 2022, but the council didn’t receive such a plan,” said Boshoff.

Motion from NCOP
The NCOP said the former municipal manager, Siphwe Matsi, pleaded guilty to all charges pertaining to the contravention of the National Environmental Management Waste Act and the National Water Act.
TCLM has also not provided stakeholders with its plan of action on how it would address the continuous sewage spillage, to ensure that the residents live in an environment as stipulated in chapter two of the Constitution. The municipality cannot continue to blame load-shedding for its failures, as it has had a full year to provide the plan and address these court rulings.

The TCLM leadership needs
to step up and take ownership of the court order through the upgrade of the waste-water treatment plan, ageing infrastructure, and the appointment of competent contractors with the
prerequisite skills.
The municipality should provide all the stakeholders with the council resolution on its plan of action and also provide a comprehensive report on which rulings of the court order have been attended to and provide completion dates.

Comment from TCLM
Themba Sibiya, TCLM’s media and marketing manager, said TCLM shares the progress reports as directed by the court order.
“We work on the waste treatment plant and there is 10% progress. We are experiencing sewer leaks due to load-shedding, especially on the high-volume lines. We have since sourced generators to augment the energy supply as an interim measure until the rehabilitation plan is fully implemented.”

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