Sol Plaatje sewage crisis brewing amidst ongoing unrest

by Andrew Louw – DA Northern Cape Provincial Leader

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Date: 16 July 2018

Release: Immediate

The DA is calling for an urgent intervention to restore the delivery of municipal services to the people, amidst ongoing unrest in Sol Plaatje municipality.

As frustrations regarding mismanagement, corruption and service delivery continue to bubble over, so too is raw sewage.

A house in Gerrit Schouten Road, in Royldene, is the latest casualty of a blocked municipal drain that has completely flooded the garden. See photos here, here, here and here.

While the residents sought the services of private plumbers, they were unable to assist, and only an intervention by the municipality itself can stem the tide of the sewage overflow.

Landbou Weg is also engulfed with sewage. The spill has flooded the veld and is affecting a number of businesses, including cattle holding pens on the outskirts of the city.

The DA long ago warned about the explosive sewerage situation in Sol Plaatje, which is being aggravated by the municipality’s failure to attend to ad hoc sewerage blocks, since the start of protest action that commenced in the city on Thursday last week.

To date, absolutely no plans exist to deal with this impending sewage crisis.

The impending crisis is part of Mayor Mangaliso Matika’s legacy. Matika, together with Municipal Manager, Goolam Akharwaray, and Chief Financial Officer, Lydia Mahloko, have chosen to play politics with municipal funding instead of using it for crucial upgrades to the city’s sewerage infrastructure.

This is increasingly resulting in increased sewage spills across the city, already affecting Greenpoint, Galeshewe, Minerva Gardens, Monument Heights and Royldene. Given the current standstill of municipal services, it is further at risk of spilling over into a full blown crisis if not urgently addressed.

Matika is losing the battle against sewage. It’s no wonder that service delivery in Kimberley stinks.

DA councillor, Marie Beylefeld, who also manages a municipal Whatsapp group, has been inundated with complaints ranging from large sections of street lights not working, to power outages, burst water pipes and rubbish not being collected. At this stage, all the DA can do is report these grievances but Sol Plaatje is not delivering any services and they also cannot say when service delivery will resume.

The DA wonders if residents, who are already up in arms over the unfair electricity tariff increases, will have to foot the bill for water wastage and inaccessible services, for as long as the unrest continues. We won’t be surprised if this sparks more protest action amongst already disgruntled Kimberley residents.

It is increasingly clear that the ANC is not concerned about the wellbeing of the people of Kimberley, who depend on it daily for service delivery.

Only change under a DA-led municipality will ensure that the people of Kimberley receive uninterrupted services that enable them to live quality lives, work and grow the local economy.