WATCH: Raw sewage flows on the streets of Welkom as sports ground floods

The mayor of Matjhabeng Local Municipality, Thanduxolo Khalipha, says the municipality is experiencing a sewage spillage crisis.

He recently spoke to The Citizen in a sit-down interview about the challenges Matjhabeng is facing. Khalipha has been the sitting mayor for the last five years.

The trip is part of The Citizen‘s travels across the length and breadth of the country to explore the lives, struggles, successes, and frustrations of everyday South Africans ahead of this year’s local government elections.

Matjhabeng Local Municipality services the primary town of Welkom and five surrounding towns.

A typical drive around this municipality will expose you to raw sewage in the townships and even in the central business district of the municipality.

Sewage spillages

The situation is so bad that one school in the area cannot use its sports grounds because raw sewage has swamped them.

Khalipha said that in his first few months as mayor, he declared the municipality a disaster area because of ongoing sewage spillages. He said he informed both the national and provincial governments about the municipality’s poor state.

He said an independent assessment found that 54 of 57 pump stations linked to the critical sewer infrastructure had been destroyed.

“Out of 13 sewer treatment plants, 11 of those treatment plants were destroyed,” he said.

Khalipha said that since the national government intervened, it has fixed 22 of the much-needed pump stations and returned them to the municipality.

Khalipha said the municipality projects that it will fully eradicate sewage spillages by 2028.

“This intervention is dealing with three interventions; it’s dealing with your sewer treatment plant, pump station and your sewer line,” he said.

Khalipha said residents are finding sewage on the streets because work is being done on live sewer pipes.

“There is also a challenge of some contractors who have not been performing well, but the department and Vaal Central are intervening in some of those things.

“Some of the contractors are not meeting their timelines. Some of them the department has acted [on]. Some of them have gone to court, but that is a legal matter, which is managed by Vaal Central as an implementing agent,” he said.

Khalipha said fixing Matjhabeng’s sewer infrastructure will cost the taxpayer more than R4 billion. This is more than the municipality’s annual budget.

Waste collection

Khalipha said another problem he found when he took the mayoral chair was that the municipality did not have enough waste-removal trucks.

“We bought more than 28 more trucks, we fixed another six, so we have more than 40 trucks,” he said.

Khalipha said the municipality’s management should ensure waste is collected regularly because the resources are there.

“Supervision, they need to make sure that people do their work and they must educate our people to make sure that when rubbish is removed, they do not dump again,” he said.

Debt and rate collection

Khalipha said another challenge he faced when he became mayor was that the municipality owes its power supplier, Eskom, and Vaal Central, which supplies water.

“We are owing a lot of money; these are legacy challenges.

“There is a plan; we have now entered into a payment plan with Vaal Central. We are paying them at least R30 million a month.”

He said the municipality wants to service its debt by installing smart meters so residents can pay for what they consume.

Water infrastructure

He said the municipality conducted a study showing it loses 49% of its clean water through leaks. He blamed this on ageing infrastructure.

“We did not invest [in] the infrastructure of Matjhabeng,” he said.

Khalipha said the municipality needs more than R2 billion to replace old water infrastructure.

He said the municipality will replace its old water infrastructure over the next five years.

Full interview with Mayor: