Sewage spill | Sekhukhune residents left to live in a stench

BURGERSFORT - The Department of Water and Sanitation says it has laid criminal charges against municipal managers of 14 municipalities over wastewater that spills into rivers.

These include Limpopo’s Sekhukhune District, where President Cyril Ramaphosa is taking his presidential imbizo on Friday.

Residents in Sekhukhune District are concerned about sewage spilling into water sources, which they believe poses a health hazard.

Gregory Thobejane, a taxi driver said, "We're already sick. We work here, and rather than dying of hunger, we would rather die of the stench. This is where we make a living. We're coughing, but we're not sure if it's because of the sewage stench."

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The sewage from a wastewater pump station belonging to Sekhukhune District Municipality, located inside the Burgersfort Toyota dealership has been causing frustration since 2016.

Sabeeha Essack said, "We have the manhole on the property itself, overflowing with human faeces we’ve got to physically get people to come and clean it up, the smell is horrible."

"Our customers complain about all the time, especially in summer. In summer there’s no way you can avoid it, the smell goes through the doors, the entire dealership has it.”

While Sekhukhune District Municipal spokesperson Maredi Kgetjepe says he’s unaware of criminal charges against the municipal manager, the Department of Water and Sanitation confirms the charges.

The same charges were laid against managers of Tshwane, Merafong, Rand West, Kanaland, Emalahleni.

Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu said, "now because we’ve revised measurements as a form of Green Drop and the Blue drop, we now see that quite a number of municipalities, don’t meet the standard."

"Now, we would’ve issued warnings to them, escalating them to directives and when we don’t get satisfactory responses we open criminal cases because water is very very serious. It runs your body, it’s is your life, it is my life.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa will lead government officials on a presidential imbizo focusing on service delivery in Sekhukhune on Friday.