Vaal River polluted ‘beyond acceptable standards’, says SAHRC

The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has recommended that the Emfuleni Local Municipality be put under national administration, following damning findings against municipal officials in their report into the Vaal River sewerage crisis.

In its findings, the SAHRC noted that the Vaal River was polluted “beyond acceptable standards”. This was due to kilolitres of untreated sewage entering the Vaal River because of inoperative and dilapidated wastewater treatment plants, which have been unable to properly process the sewage and other wastewater.

The Emfuleni Local Municipality was also responsible for treating some of the sewerage from the City of Johannesburg as well as the Midvaal Local Municipality.

The commission found that the running sewerage seeping into the Vaal River was caused by Emfuleni’s failure to properly implement its mandate. Damage to the infrastructure of the Vaal River system and a failure by officials to deliver on their mandates was blamed for the events which led to the environmental crisis.

WATCH: Vaal Dam sluices opened as more rains expected

The SAHRC also recommended that public servants and municipal administrators and staff who had failed to
comply with their obligations under the Public Service Act, the Municipal Service Act and the Municipal Financial Management Act contributed to the disintegration of the municipality, be disciplined or dismissed in accordance with the law.

The SAHRC requested that all parties to which the above recommendations apply, respond to the commission jointly or separately, within 60 days of receiving the final report.

“It is proposed that all departments of the municipality, save for ones the provincial and national government can show is operating adequately, be taken over by national government,” the commission said in the report.

“Such an intervention can also make use of the services of organs of state such as Rand Water and Salga [South African Local Government Association], given that the minister for DWS [Department of Water and Sanitation] can issue directives to Rand Water, and further facilitate the implementation of DWS’s current and impending interventions.”

ALSO READ: Under-administration Emfuleni municipality still ‘experiencing challenges’, says Maile

#VaalSewage

The Commission requests that all parties to which the above recommendations apply, respond to the Commission jointly or separately, within 60 days of receiving the final report.

— SAHRCommission (@SAHRCommission) February 17, 2021

This week, Gauteng cooperative governance MEC Lebogang Maile said highlighted the financial stress the municipality was under, with over R4 billion in debt to state entities and other creditors. but indicated that provincial government would assist with financial restructuring and not with a bailout.

ALSO READ: Emfuleni dysfunctional with little ‘evidence of improvement’

simnikiweh@citizen.co.za

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