Durban - Former deputy mayor of eThekwini Municipality Philani Mavundla has announced that he is joining the legal action initiated by ActionSA against the eThekwini Municipality over sewage spillages in the city.
ActionSA’s Zwakele Mncwango and Mavundla announced on Tuesday that they had joined forces in the litigation against the municipality over the collapse of its sewerage infrastructure. ActionSA filed court papers a few weeks ago to hold the city and other government departments accountable for the spillages.
During his time in the leadership of the City, Mavundla also chaired the Human Settlement and Infrastructure Service Committee (HSI) which oversees almost all the infrastructure in the city, and he had access to details on the problems with the infrastructure.
Mavundla, the president of the Abantu Batho Congress, was in a coalition with the ANC but this ended last year when he was ousted as deputy mayor.
EThekwini has largely blamed last year’s storm for the sewage problems, however, The Mercury has previously reported from an affidavit filed in the court action by the provincial department of Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (Edtea) which detailed problems dating back from early 2021.
Mavundla has also previously insisted that the problems date back to before the April 2022 floods.
He had said he had warned the mayor and City officials that the infrastructure was on the brink of collapse.
“We are pleased the ABC has heeded our call and that we can work collaboratively to address this ensuing catastrophe in the interests of the people of eThekwini and its surrounds, who continue to have their business, homes and health compromised as a result of the ANC government’s inaction,” ActionSA said.
The parties said according to their information, 68% of the wastewater treatment works were not being maintained, as per the November 2021 Annual Process Audit Report Sanitation Operations.
“This has led to 88 194 cubic metres of waste being pumped into the ocean, as it was reported that the tankers of sludge were extremely costly for the City, which resorted to dumping sewage in the ocean,” the parties claimed.
The eThekwini Municipality said it was aware of the action and the City’s legal team was preparing an opposing affidavit. “However, we want to reiterate our call to councillor Philani Mavundla and ActionSA to share with the relevant authorities whatever information they have that supports their view that the leadership of the municipality has committed wrongdoing.”
It said it was working round the clock to fix sewerage lines that were damaged by the floods.
“The starting point had to be pump stations as these are critical in preventing pollution of our rivers and the sea. Now that we have fixed the pump stations, we have begun to connect our sewerage lines.
“We want to reassure eThekwini residents that we remain committed to running a clean and transparent administration,” it said.