ActionSA requests update on appeals against CoCT permits to pump raw sewage into ocean

10 May 2023

ActionSA has written to the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DEFF), asking when it will take a decision on ActionSA’s appeals against the permits it granted to the City of Cape Town, which allow the City to continue pumping raw sewage into the ocean at Green Point and Camps Bay for another five (5) years.

The raw sewage is, in the case of Camps Bay, released via a pipeline into the Table Mountain National Park Marine Protected Area. In the case of the Green Point, the sewage is released into the sea adjacent to the border of the Marine Protected Area.

The permits were issued by the DEFF in January 2023. ActionSA appealed against the permits on 9 February 2023. The City of Cape Town responded to the appeals, arguing that they should be allowed to continue pumping raw sewage into the ocean.

ActionSA has rejected the reasons given by the City of Cape Town that attempt to justify their continued pumping of sewage into the ocean as completely without foundation. ActionSA submitted our Response to the City of Cape Town’s Response on the 5 April 2023.

It has been over a month since ActionSA submitted our Response to the City of Cape Town’s Response, and ActionSA has now written to the DEFF asking when they will take a decision on ActionSA’s appeals.

ActionSA has recently launched High Court proceedings in KwaZulu-Natal to prevent further economic devastation to tourism caused by rampant sewage pollution in that province. ActionSA will similarly, should the DEFF decide to reject our appeals, take the necessary steps in the Western Cape to protect residents’ health, the environment and the tourism economy.

Issued by Michelle Wasserman, ActionSA Western Cape Provincial Chairperson, 10 May 2023