Gauteng premier David Makhura and minister of water and sanitation Senzo Mchunu have refused to give a timeline on the work to find a solution to the water pollution crisis that has plagued the Vaal River for years.
Yesterday, numerous provincial MECs converged in the troubled Emfuleni municipality to inspect progress that has been made in the communities while taking stock of new service delivery-related issues in the area.
Mchunu was also in the area to obtain feedback on the status of waste and sanitation systems along the Vaal River course.
He said they had appointed Rand Water as the implementing agent.
"We will be having a meeting with them and they will take us through the phases and the time frames [of the project]," Mchunu said at the Sharpeville water plant.
“Firstly, we need to clean the pipes and then fix the problems that are present at various sewage pump stations and water treatment plants. We have the political will to live up to the expectations of residents and we do not want to disappoint them. Money won't stop us and as things stand, we have spoken to the department of finance and we have already spent R100m in the first phase of the project."
Makhura said the root cause of the problem is the systems.
"The pump stations, pipes in residential areas that lead waste to plants, are not in good condition. There is no clean water and all the pumps are either not working or working on a minimal level. We have seen a bit of improvement and there are teams that have been dispatched to attend to various problems,” Makhura said.
Although their presence was generally welcomed, residents also viewed the visit as an attempt to make up for the lack of service delivery over the past few years.
Booitjie Mohanoe from Sharpeville said he did not understand the purpose of the visit because the municipality had been dysfunctional for a long time.
“Nothing works properly. We have regular electricity and water outages and our waste is not being collected. I appreciate that these leaders are here to see how we are living but it's not hard to see that it is convenient for them to come here when the elections are a month away,” said Mohanoe.
“We want to know when things will be fixed because we cannot carry on living like this,” he said.
Thabo Ntshonyane from Boipatong said the sewage spills needed to be addressed.
“Sewage flows from the streets into our yards and nothing is being done about it. The roads are riddled with potholes and unemployment is high. The government needs to do something about it,” said Ntshonyane.
Boipatong is located on the edge of the Vaal River between wastewater pipes and the wastewater treatment plant which is meant to treat sewage and free clean water into the river.
However, sewage is pumped to the congested treatment facility and in turn is pushed into Boipatong’s sewage network, causing it to spill onto the streets.
Earlier this year, the SA Human Rights Commission reported that the Vaal Dam, on which about 19m people depend on for drinking water, is polluted beyond acceptable standards and “may very well have been irreparably damaged”.
Makhura said his government was addressing other areas of service delivery in the municipality such as waste management systems and repairing of roads.
“A total of R200m has been spent on fixing the main road networks – we have fixed nine roads out of 21 so far,” he said.
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