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Release: immediate Last week we visited Mthatha and Port St Johns in the Eastern Cape to have a look at the water supply and sanitation infrastructure in these areas. We were accompanied by Shadow Deputy Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Annette Lovemore, DA MPL Veliswa Mvenya and DA Councilor Zama Bomela on our visit. What follows is an account of the shocking conditions we saw in this area that has not only resulted in large scale pollution of the Mthatha river but also intermittent water shortages in Mthatha and a water shortage crisis in Port St Johns. We will be loading a more detailed report as well as a number of photo's of the things we saw and the people we met on our Parliament for the People webpage <http://www.mailfire.co.za/link/QlJVTj0xMDMxNiZMSUQ9Mjg3NzUmU0lEPTEwMTk1MzY=.aspx> including the action steps we will now be taking in Parliament in order to address the water crisis that currently exists in this area. (A series of photos follows below this statement. For a full gallery of photos please visit our Parliament for the People webpage or DAMediaCentre.co.za <http://www.mailfire.co.za/link/QlJVTj0xMDMxNiZMSUQ9Mjg3NzYmU0lEPTEwMTk1MzY=.aspx> ). We decided to visit Mthatha and Port St Johns for a number of reasons that include replies to parliamentary questions posed that revealed the high levels of contamination and faecal pollution of the Mthatha river and other rivers in the Eastern Cape; the Blue Drop Report of 2009 that gave the Mthatha municipality a score of only 37 out 100; the death of eight people from the Mpheko village after they drank polluted drinking water; and also being approached by local community residents on the poor state and lack of maintenance of the dams in Port St Johns. Furthermore, on Saturday 22 August the Office of the President announced that it would be granting a R5 billion windfall to Mthatha to improve service delivery and infrastructure in the area. It also promised to correct this situation and repair and rebuild the crumbling infrastructure within six months. We therefore decided to visit the area to firstly, speak directly to Mthatha and Port St Johns residents and secondly, to see for ourselves what needs to be done in order to develop a proper and efficient functioning water supply and sewerage infrastructure in the area. We will use our membership in Parliament to engage directly with both the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs and the Office of the President in the coming months to not only raise the concerns of the residents and what we saw on our visit but also to ensure the R5 billion is properly spent and that the Office of the President fulfils the promises it has made. We visited a number of sites, and what follows below is a short summary of what we saw (the webpage provides a more detailed account): Water treatment plant in Mthatha: The water treatment plant is completely dilapidated and it was clear that the infrastructure at the plant has not been adequately maintained. There is old and decrepit equipment and litter lying everywhere. The plant appears to only be operating around 30% of its optimal level - the settling tanks are overtaxed and only one of the four sand filters is working, the other three filters are clogged up and appear not to be backwashed properly. There were also HTH containers standing around the plant despite municipalities having been requested to desist from using HTH (Our webpage provides further details and photos of the state of the plant and what management at the plant told us). The informal trading area and taxi rank in Mthatha: There are large piles of rubbish lying around the town that clearly indicate that refuse removal is largely absent in Mthatha. There is also a huge rubbish dump on the banks of the river next to the informal trading area. The informal traders told us that they had requested formal trading facilities from the ANC led local government but were still waiting for this and as a result were exposed to the elements and had no access to proper toilets. (photos of the rubbish dump and the informal trading area as well as interviews with the informal traders are on our webpage). The sewerage works in Mthatha: The sewerage works is not adequately fenced and there was no activity taking place at the facility. The ponds were overfilled with sludge and raw sewerage and there was evidence of underground seepage around the facility. The chlorination plant had been vandalised and was not in use. As a result, there is effectively raw sewerage running into the Mthatha River and we saw this first hand - the stench was unbearable at the point of discharge and there was dense water hyacinth that had effectively blocked the river at this point. (photos of the seepage, the vandalised chlorination plant and the raw sewerage running into the river can be found on our webpage as well as an interview with Mr Sobetwa who had been seconded from the OR Tambo District Municipality). Sandmining along the river outside Mthatha: Just outside Mthatha we discovered that the river was completely covered with water hyacinth, which is most likely due to the high degree of untreated sewerage in the river. There was also a sandmining operation that supplied informal brick makers alongside the river. This operation had caused massive soil erosion and this top soil washes into the river and eventually clogs the river mouth. These brick workers operated in extremely poor conditions and were exposed to the contaminated river water on a daily basis. (Our webpage provides photos of the sandmining operation and the poor working conditions). Port St Johns: We saw firsthand how the poor maintenance of the dams and pumping equipment had resulted in a looming water crisis in the area. The Umzimbuvu river, the largest undammed river in the province, is silting up which is evident by the sand bars that had formed. We were told that a system had been designed on the Mngazi river to draw water from it just below flood river but this extraction had not taken place during high water periods due to a malfunction of the pump system and the holding dam had run dry as a result. The ANC led local government had also tried to crudely dam the Mngazi river in order to create a false high water and had done this without conducting a impact study beforehand and had also used bulldozers on the riverbanks. The town dam is at a critically low level despite the area enjoying one of the highest rain fall levels in the country. As a result the higher lying areas have been without a proper water supply for almost 3 months. The town's sewerage plant has also never been completed and as a result many businesses are discharging their effluent directly into the river. The water purification plant is archaic. There had also been 3 shark attacks this year alone which is believed to be a result of the raw sewerage entering the ocean from the rivers and the uncontrolled ritual sacrifices on the beach where animal parts are thrown into the sea. (Photos of the state of the dams and the effluent flowing from the businesses into the river can be found on our webpage). Three things are clear from our visit. Firstly, there is absolutely no control over what is entering the rivers in Mthatha -the main source of drinking water in the area. Secondly, Mthatha residents are supplied with virtually untreated water due to the poor condition of the infrastructure at the water treatment plant. Thirdly, the ANC local government's failure to properly maintain the dams in the Port St John's area has resulted in extremely low water levels in these dams and severe water shortages despite this area enjoying high levels of rainfall. All these factors have resulted in a severe health risk to the local community (apparent by the death of eight residents in Mpheko) and many Port St Johns residents sitting without running water for months. Furthermore the poor water supply and quality of water has also deterred investors. The lack of investment has in turn resulted in virtually no economic growth or development taking place or job creation in the area - clearly evident by the large number of informal traders in Mthatha. It is vital that the current dismal situation in both Mthatha and Port St Johns be addressed immediately and we therefore welcome the Office of the Presidents recent announcement that it would inject R5 billion into the area over the next few months. However, it is imperative that this amount is spent effectively and efficiently to ensure that proper water supply, water treatment and sewerage infrastructure is repaired and built in the area, that the informal traders are given access to proper facilities including toilets and that a proper waste removal service is put in place to prevent rubbish entering the river. It is also imperative that the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs releases the Green Drop report that was completed in 2008 and which rates the wastewater treatment services in all municipalities as we believe that Mthatha and Port St Johns form part of a bigger wastewater treatment crisis that currently exists in South Africa. We will therefore be taking a number of action steps in Parliament over the next few months:
We will be asking a range of questions to both the President and the Minister of Water and Environment Affairs on a number of issues related to our visits that include the plans and timeframes that have been put in place when it comes to spending the R5 billion, when will the Green Drop report be released, whether any government officials are responsible for the poor condition of the water treatment and sewerage facilities in Mthatha and whether any action has been taken against them as well as what plans are in place to deal with the water shortages in port St Johns;
We will raise these matters with the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs when its Eastern Cape regional division appears before the portfolio committee in mid-September;
We will call for debates in Parliament on the poor state and management of waste services in the country and on the looming water shortage crisis facing the country due to the poor maintenance of the country's dams and water supply infrastructure;
We will also call for the portfolio committee to conduct its own oversight visit to Mthatha and Port St Johns; and
We will conduct a follow-up visit to Mthatha within one year to see what improvements have been made as a result of the Office of the President's intervention to the water treatment facility, the sewerage plant and the informal trading area.