Langeberg municipality's mayor Theuns Botha is to be called before the provincial government's standing committee on the environment to explain the construction of an illegal dam at Stilbaai on the southern Cape coast.
Botha is also the Democratic Alliance's leader in the province.
Building the dam was a good example of how municipal affairs should not be conducted, acting Environment and Planning MEC Johan Gelderblom charged on Sunday.
Speaking in a mini-debate in the provincial parliament last week, Gelderblom also hit out at the municipality, saying it had refused to co-operate with the province over the dam despite continuous requests.
| 'Building the dam was a good example of how municipal affairs should not be conducted' |
Although his department had not yet laid charges against the municipality with the prosecuting authorities, this had not been ruled out, he warned.
The municipality illegally constructed the Olive Grove "earthfill" dam in the river bed of the Melkhoutfontein river, a tributary of the Goukou river on which Stilbaai is situated.
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Protected milkwood trees were removed during clearing for the dam, which also resulted in a wetland and a salt marsh being devastated.
The municipality claimed the water was urgently needed because of summer water shortages in the rapidly growing town, and obtained a "post completion" permit from the department of water affairs and forestry.
However, the permit was for a dam to hold 250 000m3, but the wall was constructed high enough to contain 400 000m3.
When told that the environmental authorities had successfully prosecuted oil giant Caltex, which had been fined R50 000, Stilbaai municipal officials retorted that their councillors would probably rather pay a R50 000 fine than spend this money on applying for permission for the dam.
The debate was requested by African National Congress provincial chief whip Garth Strachan, who asked why the municipality had been allowed to construct the dam even though no environmental impact assessment, required by law, had been done.
He said Botha would be called to appear before the province's standing committee - and subpoenaed if he refused to attend.
Alan Wynde of the DA agreed that the dam had been constructed without an impact assessment which was "a mistake", but said the debate had been called for political reasons because of Botha's DA affiliation.
He said the decision to construct the dam had been taken unanimously by the previous Stilbaai municipality, which had included ANC members.
- This article was originally published on page 5 of Cape Argus on June 09, 2003
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