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24 May 2012
   
 
 
Article by: Sapa
 
 
 

Criminal charges over the pollution of the country's water supply were laid against three Cabinet ministers at the Brooklyn police station in Pretoria on Friday.


After laying the charges, TauSA chairperson Louis Meintjes said that the organisation had been forced to approach the police after Minister of Agriculture Tina Joemat-Pettersson, Mining Minister Susan Shabangu and Water Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica, had repeatedly failed to address the problem.

 

"We want them to act and get the water clean... a snowball that gets too big is a runaway snowball," he said.

 

Meintjes said that mines which used 7% of the country's water supply were responsible for 75% of water pollution.

 

He said that Sonjica should have acted in line with the National Water Act and that Shabangu should have known that mining, water supply and food security were directly linked.

 

He said the act provided that it was criminal for ministers to knowingly or unintentionally allow for natural resources to be jeopardised.

 

"If it's not the ministers, who is responsible?"

 

Edited by: Sapa
 
 
 
 
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