Sewage crisis: ABC joins ActionSA in ongoing litigation against eThekwini metro

21 January 2023

Note to editor: This was the statement that was made jointly by ActionSA KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Chairperson, Zwakele Mncwango, and Abantu Batho Congress President, PG Mavundla.

Today, ActionSA and the Abantu Batho Congress (ABC) jointly announced that ABC President, Cllr PG Mavundla will be joining ActionSA in its ongoing litigation against eThekwini Metro, after the metro failed to repair and replace sewerage infrastructure, resulting in the spillage of raw sewage into river rivers and estuaries which leads to the ocean, and poisons our environment.

Having been the Chairperson of the Infrastructure Committee of the Metro, we believe Cllr PG Mavundla will be an asset to the litigation against the City, as he has a wealth of understanding of the current state of infrastructural decay in eThekwini, and what has led to this crisis that continues to persist some 9 months later.

On the 21 November 2022, ActionSA wrote to entities who have been vocal about the sewerage crisis in eThekwini and invited them to join our legal application as amicus curiae (a friend of the court), as there have been a number of them who have threatened legal action against eThekwini Metro.

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 the business, homes and health compromised as a result of the ANC government’s inaction.

Currently the state of infrastructure in eThekwini is nothing short of disastrous. The Metro has a total of 27 Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW), of which 24 have no operating licenses, 17 have been run into the ground, and a further 2 are no longer being reported on as its mechanical and electrical equipment is no longer functional.  

Shockingly, 68% of WWTW are not being maintained by the city, as per the November 2021 Annual Process Audit Report Sanitation Operations, which 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, thus resorting to dumping it is the ocean, which further poisons the environment and is a hazard to the health and safety of beachgoers.

It is becoming evident that the Metro has been using our beautiful ocean as a place to dispose of unwanted waste.

What is more shocking being that of the budget that was allocated to the Metro, eThekwini spent less than 7% of it on aging and damaged infrastructure, further allowing the city to rot.

If one was to questions why we believe the ANC has dismally failed to run a Metropolitan Municipality, you needn’t look further than eThekwini.

Issued by Zwakele Mncwango, KZN Provincial Chairperson, 21 February 2023