Govan Mbeki Municipality appeared before South African Human Rights Commission to present its side of the story and provide steps undertaken to rectify sewage problems faced by its community on a daily basis.
According to SAHRC report, it was found that the sewage spills and the inadequate treatment of waste water by the municipality violated the affected communities’ right to an environment that is not harmful to health and well-being (section 24 of the Constitution).
SAHRC issued a report on the investigation into sewage spills and waste treatment challenges in Mpumalanga’ municipalities, including Govan Mbeki, Lekwa and Nkomazi municipalities in the year 2019, findings were that these municipalities were:
• In violation of sections 24(a) and 10 of the Constitution, as a result of its continued failure to effectively address the challenges of sewage spillages and the inadequate treatment of effluent within its jurisdictions.
• In breach of its obligations in terms of section 19 of the National Water Act 36 of 1998 (“National Water Act”) and Section 28 of the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 (“NEMA”) respectively, as a result of their failure to prevent and remedy the effects of environmental pollution, in the course of providing sanitation services to the residents.
• In breach of its obligations in terms of section 9 of the National Standards and Measures to Conserve Water by continuing to receive and discharge untreated and/or inadequately treated sewage into the water resources.
The commission has also noted:
• a lack of preemptive and routine maintenance of sewer systems;
• a lack of accountability for the poor workmanship in the installation of the sewer network and inadequate security measures to safeguard sewage infrastructure.
It called on the provincial government to comply with its constitutional obligation to support and strengthen the capacity of municipalities to enable them perform their functions.
The commission has also called for the criminal investigation of the complaints against the cited municipalities, as environmental pollution is not only a violation of a right but a criminal offence in terms of the various environmental legislation.
The Commission said it will continue to monitor compliance with its report directives at the time.
Mr Lucky Mhlongo, municipal communication officer, said the Commission investigated and recommended certain corrective steps to be undertaken to rectify the situation.
This was followed by the municipality submitting progress reports to the Commission.
The Commission convened the inquiry for the municipality to present its side of the story and provide steps undertaken (including future) to correct the situation.
GMM submitted its report as requested by the Commission.
The principle is that GMM is attending to the sewer problems and has since budgeted on an ongoing basis to correct the situation in eMbalenhle and other areas.
The municipality is awaiting the final outcome of the presentation done last week to the commission, said Mr Mhlongo.
