High court orders Nkomazi Local Municipality to repair raw sewage leaks
Raw sewage leaks around the town of Komatipoort have been ongoing for years. A recent order from the Mbombela High Court should see these leaks addressed and repaired.
The Mbombela Division of the High Court of South Africa has ordered Nkomazi Local Municipality (NLM) to repair some raw sewage leaks that have been occurring in town for years.
The judgment was delivered on Friday April 19, after the Komatipoort Despondent Residents Association (KDRA) took the municipality to court with their legal team from Kotze and Roux Attorneys in Pretoria over the raw sewage spillages and hazardous drinking water.
The court declared sewage was flowing into the Crocodile River from the Krokodil Street plant and contaminating it, and that the municipality was in breach of its constitutional obligation; to prevent contamination by allowing raw sewage spills. The municipality has therefore been ordered to urgently take remedial steps to stop these spills by repairing the cause and rehabilitating the affected areas.
ALSO READ: UPDATE: Water supply in Mbombela and White River still in recovery
The court also ordered that the KDRA may appoint its own expert to monitor the sewage works for 12 weeks, starting from the day of the declaration, for which the municipality must pay the costs. According to the court judgment, the NLM must ensure that raw sewage is not discharged and take steps that the community receives drinkable water on a daily basis.
The KDRA’s chairperson, Lené Roux, says although this is a victorious step towards the right direction, there is still long way to go. “We are happy that the court has compelled the municipality to give attention to this issue that has been going on for years. We had first decided to go to court in January 2023, because all the communication we had tried with the municipality directly, proved to be a futile exercise. We have already appointed an expert who will be commencing with the work anytime now, and we will send the reports to court, as per the order. The court has also declared that the municipality must pay for our legal costs,” she said.
Roux says the quality of the water supplied in Komatipoort is poor, and the spillages pose a danger to the residents, especially children. “The shortage of potable water leads to appalling sewerage conditions and sewage spillages, which has some hazardous consequences to the citizens of Komatipoort and surrounding areas.
ALSO READ: Three die in Mpumalanga aircraft crash
This affects particularly the town and the Crocodile River, which supplies drinking water to the community, yet raw sewage is dumped into that same river. The situation is so out of control that the residents had received some drinking water from the municipality on May 6, 2023, wherein live fish came through the pipes into the people’s houses! The water received could not even be used, as it contained many impurities,” she said.
The NLM’s spokesperson, Cyril Ripinga, says they were surprised to be taken to court over this matter, because the process to have this matter resolved had commenced two years ago.
“We are aware of the court judgment, but it’s surprising that we are here now, because the municipality hired a contractor in 2022 to fix the plant. Our understanding is that the cause of the sewer spillage was because of old infrastructure that gradually dilapidated. However, the contractor hired by the municipality has replaced it with new infrastructure and the problem has been sorted. Komatipoort no longer has sewer spillage issues,” said Ripinga.
Roux, however, refuted these claims, citing that no work had been done and the town still has to deal with spillages everywhere, and raw sewage that flows into the Crocodile River.
“There are photos of sewage spillages that occurred in March 2024, and today, April 24, 2024, the problem is still rampant and nothing has been done. We will continue to deal with the matter as per the court’s judgment. If the municipality refuses to come to party, we will continue with our legal team to pursue the matter until they do something about the spillages and the quality of drinking water in our town. We would like to thank our legal team consisting of Adv Danie Wijnbeek and Ms Vidette Roux from Kotze and Roux Attorneys, who have provided us with all the legal support we needed to see this victory.”
