On 02 June 2023, ActionSA conducted an oversight visit to the Farmer’s Dam south of Harding, under the Ugu District Municipality, after receiving complaints of water contamination in the area, which is caused by raw sewerage finding its way into the dam.
This has caused enormous health risks for livestock, and in some cases has resulted in the death of animals or miscarriages during gestation. Crops can no longer be irrigated using water from the dam, as it has caused crops to die or slowed down the growth process.
This has serious implications for our food security and the health of the people of this district and beyond if contaminated meat or crop make it into the open market. Most shockingly, sewerage pump stations and wastewater treatment works in the area are not operational.
A case was opened against the Ugu District Municipality for polluting the environment, however, this has not yielded any results (CAS77/06/2020).
Recently a 4-year-old fell into an open manhole at a sewerage pump station, and a case was also opened against the Municipality (CAS35/11/2022).
Privately-owned septic tank trucks are doing rounds around one of the sewerage pump stations collecting raw sewerage and disposing of it in a wastewater treatment plant that is supposedly also not operational.
It is also alleged that there are mafia-style businesses that are benefiting from the Ugu Municipality’s decrepit infrastructure, where members of the public are threatened into silence when trying to be vocal about sanitation issues in the municipality, or in extreme cases are assassinated, resulting in members of the public opting to remain silent.
With the fear of a possible cholera outbreak in the community, we have taken the conscious decision to write to the MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Siboniso Duma, seeking immediate intervention and engagement with the Ugu District Municipality in terms of section 28 of the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 (NEMA).
Section 28(1) of NEMA provides that:
Every person who causes, has caused or may cause significant pollution or degradation of the environment must take reasonable measures to prevent such pollution or degradation from occurring, counting or recording, or, in so far as such harm to the environment is authorised by law or cannot reasonably be avoided or stopped, to minimise and rectify such pollution or degradation of the environment.
Furthermore, we draw the MEC’s attention to section 152(1)(d) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, which highlights that municipalities are constitutionally mandated to promote a safe and healthy environment for residents.
To this end, we have requested that the MEC provides feedback within 14 (fourteen) days of receipt of the letter.
ActionSA will continue to fight for the rights of residents throughout our province and ensure that non-performing leaders are held to account for their reckless actions.
ActionSA Writes to MEC Duma Seeking Immediate Intervention in Mafia-style Death-grip on Ugu Sanitation Works
On 02 June 2023, ActionSA conducted an oversight visit to the Farmer’s Dam south of Harding, under the Ugu District Municipality, after receiving complaints of water contamination in the area, which is caused by raw sewerage finding its way into the dam.
This has caused enormous health risks for livestock, and in some cases has resulted in the death of animals or miscarriages during gestation. Crops can no longer be irrigated using water from the dam, as it has caused crops to die or slowed down the growth process.
This has serious implications for our food security and the health of the people of this district and beyond if contaminated meat or crop make it into the open market. Most shockingly, sewerage pump stations and wastewater treatment works in the area are not operational.
A case was opened against the Ugu District Municipality for polluting the environment, however, this has not yielded any results (CAS77/06/2020).
Recently a 4-year-old fell into an open manhole at a sewerage pump station, and a case was also opened against the Municipality (CAS35/11/2022).
Privately-owned septic tank trucks are doing rounds around one of the sewerage pump stations collecting raw sewerage and disposing of it in a wastewater treatment plant that is supposedly also not operational.
It is also alleged that there are mafia-style businesses that are benefiting from the Ugu Municipality’s decrepit infrastructure, where members of the public are threatened into silence when trying to be vocal about sanitation issues in the municipality, or in extreme cases are assassinated, resulting in members of the public opting to remain silent.
With the fear of a possible cholera outbreak in the community, we have taken the conscious decision to write to the MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs, Siboniso Duma, seeking immediate intervention and engagement with the Ugu District Municipality in terms of section 28 of the National Environmental Management Act 107 of 1998 (NEMA).
Section 28(1) of NEMA provides that:
Every person who causes, has caused or may cause significant pollution or degradation of the environment must take reasonable measures to prevent such pollution or degradation from occurring, counting or recording, or, in so far as such harm to the environment is authorised by law or cannot reasonably be avoided or stopped, to minimise and rectify such pollution or degradation of the environment.
Furthermore, we draw the MEC’s attention to section 152(1)(d) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, which highlights that municipalities are constitutionally mandated to promote a safe and healthy environment for residents.
To this end, we have requested that the MEC provides feedback within 14 (fourteen) days of receipt of the letter.
ActionSA will continue to fight for the rights of residents throughout our province and ensure that non-performing leaders are held to account for their reckless actions.