Johannesburg - The SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has found that the Vaal River was polluted beyond acceptable standards and this pollution violated several constitutional rights.
The residents in the Vaal area have been plagued for more than five years with raw sewage leaking and polluting the Vaal River and the Rietspruit, due to main sewers in Vanderbijlpark being blocked and raw sewage flowing into people’s yards and properties.
The SAHRC released the findings of the investigations into the sewage problem of the Vaal River on Wednesday. The commission aimed to determine the extent, consequences and cause of human rights violations.
The commission’s Gauteng provincial manager, Buang Jones, said the impact of the sewage problem violated numerous constitutional rights, including the rights to human dignity, freedom and security of the person; an environment that is not harmful to health or well-being; persons not to be deprived of property, health care, food, water and social security; just administrative action and the rights of children to be protected from maltreatment and degradation.
“(A total of) 19 million people depend on the Vaal for water for domestic and commercial use. The commission accepts that the Vaal is polluted beyond acceptable standards,” Jones said.
He added that kilolitres of untreated sewage entered the Vaal from inoperative and dilapidated wastewater treatment plants.
“These plants have been unable to manage the treatment of sewage and wastewater produced. As a result, raw sewage not only flows to the Vaal but also on to residential streets, schools, homes and other public areas in the jurisdiction of the Emfuleni Local Municipality,” Jones said.
The pollution was impacting natural ecosystems directly dependent on the water, including causing the threat of extinction of yellowfish. Livestock which drank the water were also affected.
The commission found that the flow of raw sewage on to public streets and into homes posed a major health hazard to people and violated their right to dignity.
“It did not appear to the commission that the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) and the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries have been able to hold the municipality accountable for causing sewage pollution…
“The pollution has continued for a number of years without being successfully contained,” the SAHRC said.
Jones said there were deviations from municipal management which posed serious risks for the municipality and service delivery recipients.
These risks arose in respect of contracts with service providers, choices made in the appointment of appropriate service providers, and the actual delivery by such service providers which had affected the management of wastewater corrective actions.
There was a lack of skills within the municipality to effectively manage the challenges that had been identified in respect of wastewater management systems. However, the necessary skills were available in South Africa, he said.
Commissioner Jonas Sibanyoni made recommendations regarding the matter which included that the DWS or Gauteng CoGTA, together with experienced wastewater management specialists, draw up a cost-effective interim plan urgently to stop or limit the flow of sewage into the streets and homes.
The SAHRC also recommended that national and provincial governments, for the medium and long term, conduct a detailed needs assessment for the clean-up and rehabilitation of the Vaal River, and that the associated water infrastructure be declared as critical infrastructure.
“The commission is hereby notifying the national, provincial and local governments that the sewage problem is a crisis and an obvious liability to the state,” he said.
The Star