At least 2.4 billion litres of raw, untreated sewage have been pumped into Cape Town’s oceans in the past three months since ActionSA made representations to the appeals panel reviewing the decision by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment to issue licences to the City of Cape Town for its ongoing sewage discharges into the ocean. The appeal itself was filed in February 2023.
The new DA Minister has made no statement on this matter and has sat on his hands while 27 million litres of sewage flow daily into a marine protected area. It appears that the new Minister is treating his future party leader and the Mayor of Cape Town with kid gloves.
ActionSA has been championing this matter for years on behalf of concerned Capetonians. ActionSA’s submission to the appeals panel stated that the City has been issued licensing conditions that it ignores with impunity and that the only solution is the imposition of stricter licensing conditions by the Department. It criticised the metro’s claims that it cannot afford to treat sewage in any way other than disposing of it untreated into the ocean, pointing out that the City regularly boasts about its financial position while municipalities across the country treat sewage.
Finally, ActionSA’s submission observed that while the City has disposed of sewage in this manner since the late 1800s, Cape Town’s population has doubled since 2003.
These submissions were accompanied by environmental experts, civil society organisations and residents’ groups who made technically detailed submissions addressing the rapidly developing sewage crisis.
We will now write to the new DFFE Minister, Willie Aucamp, to ascertain the reasons for this delay. ActionSA will also request an update on the docket that came to light in October 2024, which was sitting with the NPA and sought to pursue the City of Cape Town for violating the maximum quantity allocated for discharge in its permits.
What is clear from the revelations exposed by Dr Dion George, the former DFFE Minister, is that the new Minister appears to have been brought in with a mandate to toe the party line. This GNU government has proven, time and again, that it has simply picked up where the previous ANC government left off, and this case is no different.
This raises a real concern that a DA Minister is protecting a DA Mayor, while the residents of Cape Town pay the price with their health, their environment and, soon, their local economy.
We will not relent. ActionSA will continue pursuing this matter, as it has done for more than three years, until there is accountability for the residents of Cape Town.
DFFE Minister Sits on His Hands Whilst Billions of Litres of Sh#t Pour Into Cape Town’s Oceans
At least 2.4 billion litres of raw, untreated sewage have been pumped into Cape Town’s oceans in the past three months since ActionSA made representations to the appeals panel reviewing the decision by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment to issue licences to the City of Cape Town for its ongoing sewage discharges into the ocean. The appeal itself was filed in February 2023.
The new DA Minister has made no statement on this matter and has sat on his hands while 27 million litres of sewage flow daily into a marine protected area. It appears that the new Minister is treating his future party leader and the Mayor of Cape Town with kid gloves.
ActionSA has been championing this matter for years on behalf of concerned Capetonians. ActionSA’s submission to the appeals panel stated that the City has been issued licensing conditions that it ignores with impunity and that the only solution is the imposition of stricter licensing conditions by the Department. It criticised the metro’s claims that it cannot afford to treat sewage in any way other than disposing of it untreated into the ocean, pointing out that the City regularly boasts about its financial position while municipalities across the country treat sewage.
Finally, ActionSA’s submission observed that while the City has disposed of sewage in this manner since the late 1800s, Cape Town’s population has doubled since 2003.
These submissions were accompanied by environmental experts, civil society organisations and residents’ groups who made technically detailed submissions addressing the rapidly developing sewage crisis.
We will now write to the new DFFE Minister, Willie Aucamp, to ascertain the reasons for this delay. ActionSA will also request an update on the docket that came to light in October 2024, which was sitting with the NPA and sought to pursue the City of Cape Town for violating the maximum quantity allocated for discharge in its permits.
What is clear from the revelations exposed by Dr Dion George, the former DFFE Minister, is that the new Minister appears to have been brought in with a mandate to toe the party line. This GNU government has proven, time and again, that it has simply picked up where the previous ANC government left off, and this case is no different.
This raises a real concern that a DA Minister is protecting a DA Mayor, while the residents of Cape Town pay the price with their health, their environment and, soon, their local economy.
We will not relent. ActionSA will continue pursuing this matter, as it has done for more than three years, until there is accountability for the residents of Cape Town.