Durban — EThekwini Municipality allegedly sat on two reports which recommended urgent intervention to fix 17 dilapidated wastewater plants – a move which could have prevented sewer spillage on to the city’s beaches.
This is contained in the bundle of documents seen by the Daily News which Abantu Batho Congress (ABC) leader Philani Mavundla will present in the Durban High Court as evidence of the City’s failure to prevent the infrastructure collapse.
After attempts to politically hold the ANC in eThekwini to account for poor service delivery, opposition parties have turned to the court.
In a joint media briefing by ABC and ActionSA on Tuesday, Mavundla announced that he would be joining ActionSA in its ongoing litigation against the ANC-led council.
Mavundla came to the briefing at City Hall, which is the municipality headquarters, armed with two audit reports of the state of the city’s waterworks.
In the reports, Mavundla stated that the city had 27 Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW), of which 24 had no operating licences.
“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.
“It was reported that the tankers of sludge were extremely costly for the City, thus resorting to dumping it in 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,” Mavundla said.
What was more shocking was the City’s spending of 7% on the ageing and damaged infrastructure, he added.
Mavundla revealed that the matter was set for next week but the City had not yet filed its answering affidavit.
He also revealed that his party had turned down the State attorney’s request for an out-of-court settlement.
His party wanted the court to make an order to force the eThekwini council to account for the mess, Mavundla said.
After the City’s closure of beaches because of high E. Coli in the water, ActionSA laid charges and asked the court to hold the council leadership accountable for failing to repair and replace sewerage infrastructure, resulting in the spillage of raw sewage into rivers and estuaries which lead to the ocean and poisoning the environment.
The matter will be heard next week.
ActionSA provincial leader Zwakele Mncwango said being joined by Mavundla in its litigation was a big boost, given that he had been the chairperson of the Human Settlements and Infrastructure Committee.
He said Mavundla would be an asset to the litigation against the City, as he had a wealth of understanding of the current state of infrastructural decay in eThekwini, and what had led to the crisis that continued to persist about nine months later.
“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 their businesses, homes and health compromised as a result of the ANC government’s inaction,” Mncwango said.
Mavundla, who first tendered his apology for helping the ANC to retain power, said the state of infrastructure in eThekwini was nothing short of a disaster. He said had he not helped the ANC to come back to power, the City would not be where it is now.
The former deputy mayor said he would tell the court that had the municipality listened to him things would have not got to this stage.
He said he had written 40 letters to mayor Mxolisi Kaunda and to City officials but only the speaker Thabani Nyawose had responded once.
The mayor’s spokesperson, Mluleki Mntungwa, said the City’s legal team was still preparing opposing affidavits.
He said the municipality was committed to running a clean, transparent administration.
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