Also read: Daily lotto uitslae vir 11 Mei 2023
The Democratic Alliance is piling the pressure on the Dawid Kruiper municipality to urgently stop a sewage spill from further contaminating the Orange River.
Sewage has been spilling in the industrial area in Upington for four years. The spill has grown so extensively that it is now visibly and audibly gushing out of blocked manholes. It has created a river that runs from behind Dr Nelson Mandela drive, past CTM, behind Midas to the train bridge that flows under Schröder Street, into Steenbok Street and then onto the premises of Africa River Lodge and into the river.
The stench is affecting business owners. The affected lodge owner also cannot take bookings or accommodate day visitors for fishing.
The situation poses a direct health and environmental threat to residents and the affected area.
Most worryingly, it is also polluting the Northern Cape’s key water source, the Orange River, which plays an important role in the South African economy, through tourism and the provision of water for irrigation.
The DA has raised the matter in committee and in council. Since August 2022, we also accompanied the Director of Civil Services to the site of the leak on three occasions, and the Municipal Manager on one occasion. We were told to be patient and that the matter would be resolved soon. While the municipality has upgraded the sewerage line in Paballelo, Rosedale and at the sewage plant over the last three years, nothing has been done about the sewerage infrastructure in town. This includes another leak near the Kalahari Mall, that has been spilling for months.
Given the critical need for intervention, the DA is simultaneously calling on multiple stakeholders for an urgent intervention in the hope that this matter will finally receive the required attention. We have therefore submitted a complaint to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), as well as letters requesting urgent assistance to the Department of Water and Sanitation, the MEC of Environment, the Green Scorpions, the MEC of COGHSTA and the Premier.
Should this not achieve the desired results, we will not hesitate to lay criminal charges against the apathetic municipality, as well as all the provincial and national departments who choose not to act against this serious sewerage failure.
*PRESS RELEASE
Also read: Daily lotto uitslae vir 11 Mei 2023
