Municipalities across the country are increasingly failing to manage their wastewater treatment plants, leading to the pollution of water sources and the environment. This problem, according to the water and sanitation department, has worsened since 2023 – with a total of 79 criminal cases of breach of water legislation being opened to date. This represents an increase of 66 new cases that are in courts for criminal prosecution, compared to 13 cases recorded between 2018 and 2023.
Most of the cases of pollution of water sources were recorded in Mpumalanga and the Free State. The department’s spokesperson Wisane Mavasa said the spike in the number of cases before court highlights a collapse in basic compliance and exposes the municipalities to severe penalties. Last month, the Emalahleni local municipality in Mpumalanga was fined R650-million for causing severe environmental pollution by allowing raw sewage to overflow from municipal sewer manholes into the environment for six years without intervention.
Raw sewage was negligibly discharged into Ferroglobe Silicon Smelters, Witbank Dam, the Naawpoort River, Steenkoolspruit, the Klein Olifants River, and ultimately the Olifants River. The Mpumalanga high court found the municipality guilty of unauthorised disposal of waste, failure to comply with water use licence conditions, and causing significant environmental pollution. Despite the fine, Emalahleni ward councillor Maureen Scheepers said the situation remained unresolved.
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Mavasa said the results from the Blue Green and No Drop reports, which assess municipal performance in quality of drinking water and waste water management, indicated a general decline in the water and sanitation function. She said criminal cases against municipal accounting officers involved were primarily related to pollution emanating from pipes, manholes or pump stations or treating wastewater.
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