A world heritage site, the Vredefort Dome in the Free State, is under threat from pollution in the Vaal River, while in the nearby town of Parys the municipal water stinks and is undrinkable and the sewage network is breaking down, threatening tourism which is the town's lifeblood.
But the mayor of Emfuleni Municipality, Max Moshodi, and his municipal manager Godfrey Mahlatsi are attending a two-day workshop on municipal bylaws, while Rome is burning, so to speak.
Degradation in this once jewel of the Vaal is evident once you get off the well-maintained R56 provincial road.
The municipal roads are pock-marked with big potholes and the drinking water smells. Access to clean water is a constitutional right in this country, but not so in Parys.
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Many of the residents in this town, which has the potential to generate many jobs and huge revenue for the municipal coffers from tourism, can barely afford to put food on the table, let alone buy bottled water.
Edward Mafareka is a community leader in Tumahole informal settlement, where the poorest of the poor live, and he is furious. He says "the top-heavy Emfuleni council members do not earn their big paychecks", least of all the mayor.
Mafareka claims Moshodi spent R1-million of ratepayers' money on a wake for a deceased councillor at the end of last year, while the people of Tumahole have to draw drinking water from the sewage-clogged Vaal River and use the undignified bucket toilet system.
"Many people in my community have compromised immune systems from HIV. They get diarrhoea from the water and parasites from eating toxic fish bought from subsistence fishermen eking out a living from the dying Vaal River."
This eloquent and wiry individual is fuelled with passion to see things come right in Parys, but says the politicians have their own agendas, which do not include the interests of the poorest of the poor.
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