Newcastle Water Pollution – Reports Cannot Prove Mayor’s Claims

Following claims made by the Newcastle Municipality, alleging an elaborate conspiracy by ActionSA Newcastle Mayoral Candidate, Faizel Cassim, to poison the Ncandu River and Armcor Dam, ActionSA publicly committed investigating the matter. 

This commitment arose from ActionSA’s unwavering commitment to ethical leadership and our willingness to act against any form of wrongdoing regardless of whether those involved are from within our ranks.

Newcastle Municipality has alleged that the industrial business premises operated by Mr Cassim since 2008, is suddenly, over the course of the past month, responsible for the pollution of the town’s water sources. 

In response to these claims, we commissioned tests of the water system from two independent and accredited companies to determine the veracity of the claims made by the Newcastle Municipality and its ANC Mayor. 

The two companies conducted these tests on the river system, the dam and the stormwater around the laundry and concluded as follows:

• It could not be determined that the pollution arose from the business premises of Mr Cassim;
• That the river system has massive levels of contamination, both above and below Mr Cassim’s premises, mostly comprising of raw sewerage that arises from a catastrophic failure of the municipality to manage its sewerage network; and
• The animal that is alleged to have died most likely perished as a result of sewerage-based contamination.

ActionSA remains clear that we will act against Mr Cassim most decisively if credible evidence is produced to substantiate the municipality’s allegations. It must be said, the only evidence before the people of Newcastle is that Mr Cassim is an exemplary community leader, a philanthropist and a successful businessman. 

As it stands, the only evidence presented to the public does not substantiate the allegations made by the Newcastle Municipality and its Mayor, both of which require scrutiny in these matters. 

While ActionSA commits to addressing any wrongdoing by Mr Cassim, or any other leader, the same cannot be said of Newcastle Mayor Ntuthuko Mahlaba. 

While every other leader in the ANC is required to ‘step aside’ when charged with crimes, right up to the level of its Secretary-General, Mr Mahlaba appears to be something of a special case. He remains in office, as the Mayor of Newcastle, on charges of assault relating to an incident when contractors installing fibre lines were allegedly assaulted at his behest and in his presence. Mr Mahlaba is not a stranger to the courts, after having been previously charged with murder, a charge that was dropped only after a key witness was assassinated. 

The handling of this matter by the municipality itself has been shockingly political. Statements were released by municipal communications personnel that found Cassim guilty before the tests were even conducted.

To this day, the last statement by the municipality did not allege the tests to have implicated Cassim. 

Despite Mr Cassim’s premises operating for several years, the timing of this incident and its proximity to these local government elections generates cynicism. Reports from residents reveal this may be the most decisive and swiftest action the municipality has demonstrated in years.

We have witnessed how ActionSA has grown in this municipality within a short space of time, as I am sure has Mr Mahlaba and his colleagues in the ANC; Cassim and ActionSA pose a threat to the continued tenure of Mahlaba and the ANC in this municipality. 

ActionSA urges the people of Newcastle to disregard the unsubstantiated allegations made by Mayor Mahlaba and the Newcastle Municipality. As an organisation, ActionSA has demonstrated its commitment to accountability, and this will remain beyond these 2021 local government elections. 

It is time that the people of Newcastle vote in a new political party and Mayor that use the resources of this municipality to serve people and not to settle political scores or commit alleged acts of criminality.