It has been a number of months now and still nothing has been done about the Louis Street Dam.
On February 16 Mr Clive Hatch, Del 4 Residents Association contacted the Human Rights Commission to point out that the response from Mr Theo van Vuuren on behalf of the Emalahleni Municipality to WITBANK NEWS, was factually incorrect.
“The municipality received a report on November 1, 2016 about the sewer that was overflowing into the dam at Louis Street in Del Judor Ext 4, is incorrect” said Hatch.
He stated that the municipality was first informed about the matter on August 18 by Cllr Lizelle Steyn and that the matter was first published in WITBANK NEWS on September 2 with a follow up article on September 16 quoting Van Vuuren saying he has requested Mr Shadrack Ndlovu and Mr Collen Breinkies to look into the matter.
“For the last three months nothing has been done to rehabilitate the water in the dam, it thus remains a public hazard. As per my previous correspondence young people were trying to fish in the dam where there is a distinct possibility of cholera. I have repeatedly said that there should be a warning notice erected in the area,” said Hatch.
Hatch went on to say he hoped that there wasn’t a typo error on the anticipated programme for the implementation of the dam rehabilitation because its completion date was June 30 2016, which happens to be eight months ago.
Bacteria analyses taken on August 29, 2016 and October 24, 2016 both show that the dam had an Escherichia-Coli (E-Coli) count of 2 420 units per 100ml. Analysis taken on December 4, 2016 showed that the number had diminished slightly but remained a serious health hazard at 1 553 units of E-coli per 100ml. The last bacterial analysis taken was on January 25 and again the number of E-Coli present per 100ml was found to be 2 420 units.
Louis Street dam as it was in November 2016, acted as a breeding ground for E-coli.
According to the Emalahleni Municipality the sewer collector line from Del Judor Extensions via Afrisam quarry to Model Park Proper was blocked due to the following reasons; Foreign objects finding its way through individual households into the system; Aged infrastructure (clay pipes no longer available in the market); Disjointed and misaligned pipeline due to blasting activities in the area; Changes on natural ground level by spoiling of waste material from mining activities on top of the line; Stealing of manhole covers and rings for scrap metal purposes thus causing foreign objects to fall into the system.
“The sewer line in question has been problematic for the past few years hence the municipality has requested the Department of Human Settlement for intervention. The CCTV of the line was conducted and the report came back to say the line has long exceeded its life span and that it was disjointed in most areas and required replacement. Currently the line is unblocked, however it will block again due to reasons mentioned above,” said Mr Kingdom Mabuza, Emalahleni Municipality Communications
According to the municipality the costs involved in repairing the line are quite high, for instance the design and supervision costs, preliminary and general costs, as well as excavation costs will amount to R1.95-million. Additionally the supply and lay of the sewer piping will cost close to R3-million.
“The municipality is in the process to source funding through the District Municipality and other funders to implement the project currently busy with finalisation of the Technical Report and Business Plan to be submitted to the Department of COGTA,” said Mabuza
In communications with Mr Jackson Mzila, Human rights Legal Officer, Mpumalanga Provincial Office, he reminded the SAHRC that three months have already lapsed since correspondence was forwarded to the SAHRC, the SAHRC in response said that they are considering drafting a report with findings and recommendations against the municipality as ample time has been given to the municipality to respond and to resolve the matter.
“No doubt if there was a fatality the SAHRC, Department of Water and Forestry and the municipality will come dashing up to get their photographs into the media sympathising with the community and announcing plans to resolve this tragic incident. Until then the problem will be ignored in the hope that it goes away,” said Hatch in closing.
