POLOKWANE – More than two years after the DA filed a criminal charge against Polokwane Municipal Manager, Thuso Nemugumoni at the South African Police Service as well as the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) regarding the flow of untreated sewage into the Blood and Sand rivers, a representative of the SAHRC last week accompanied a deputation from the DA to the Polokwane and Seshego wastewater plants.

According to Johan Retters, DA councillor in the municipality, the oversight visit revealed that both wastewater treatment plants were defunct.

“More than 50m litres of wastewater flow into the Blood and Sand rivers and it is a time bomb that can explode at any time and cause many deaths as a result of cholera. Millions of rands were recently spent on the refurbishment of the wastewater treatment plants, but the effect of the water quality pumped into both the Blood and Sand rivers remains questionable,” Retters said and added that residents and businesses on the perimeter of the treatment plants and along the Blood and Sand rivers have to endure the horrid stench.

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“It is alarming that the same water is used for livestock and irrigation of crops,” he remarked.

Upon enquiry on the status of the case, the police claimed that the case has been closed for control purposes as no suspected person could be identified, according to Retters.

“We will not tolerate the protection of cadres who jeopardise the well-being and health of residents and the environment and the matter will be escalated to Members of Parliament to scrutinise the police’s unwillingness to investigate environmental crimes by municipal officials in Limpopo,” Retters promised.

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According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), cholera is a bacterial disease usually spread through contaminated water and it causes severe diarrhoea and dehydration.

Left untreated, cholera can be fatal in a matter of hours, even in previously healthy people. Most people exposed to the cholera bacterium (Vibrio cholerae) don’t become ill and never know they’ve been infected.

Yet because they shed cholera bacteria in their stool for seven to 14 days, they can still infect others through contaminated water.

Water contaminated with human faeces is the most important means of cholera transmission, either directly through drinking contaminated water or indirectly through eating contaminated food. Food can become contaminated when it comes into contact with contaminated water.

Vegetables that have been fertilised with human excreta or “freshened” with contaminated water also become contaminated, according to the NICD.

Attempts to source comment from the municipality were fruitless.