Just like with Eskom, the ANC government’s shocking indifference is actively helping to sabotage the country’s water security as well.
The need for the FF Plus to constantly ask parliamentary questions about compliance with the legal prescripts for the treatment of sewage water makes it clear that municipalities are simply ignoring them.
And from the Department of Water and Sanitation’s (DWS) side, there is no pressure or action taken against the offenders.
In July this year, the FF Plus insisted that action be taken after the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu, indicated that only thirteen out of ninety municipalities responded to written instructions relating to the inadequate treatment of wastewater at their treatment plants.
This was after the Green Drop report found in March this year that these municipalities’ water treatment systems are in a “critically dysfunctional” state.
With the publication of the report, each municipality was given sixty days to submit, in writing, turn-around strategies aimed at resolving the problem. It did not happen.
On the FF Plus’s insistence, the Blue Drop (quality of drinking water) and Green Drop (quality of treated sewage water) reports were published again last year after they were published for the last time in 2013/14.
From the reply to the latest questions from the FF Plus, it is evident that another 15 municipalities have since responded by submitting plans. That, however, means that 62 are still ignoring the legislation and instructions.
The FF Plus will once again demand from the Minister that action be taken against the accountable officials at the relevant municipalities.
Ordinary citizens who violate the country’s laws are prosecuted, but there seems to be another set of rules that applies to municipal officials who violate the law, which is obviously happening in this case.
Environmental and water legislation makes adequate provision for the prosecution of persons who allow water pollution to occur.
In his reply, the Minister also indicated that the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA) are “cooperating” to help municipalities develop and implement their action plans.
Nearly ten months have passed since the publication of the Green Drop report. What this “cooperation” entails remains unclear. Whether it has started and by when it must be completed also remain unclear.
One thing is clear, though, from the apparent attempt to get SALGA and MISA involved:
Most municipalities, despite having and paying numerous officials in their service, simply do not possess the expertise needed to compile action plans to solve their problems.
The only way to save South Africa is to get rid of the ANC as soon as possible.
Read the original article in Afrikaans by Michal Groenewald on FF Plus
