Sewer spillages still persist in Mokopane
Rebecca Selomo
Communities that have been suffering from sewer spillages in Mokopane communities still find themselves in pools of sewer spillages despite the commitment from Anglo Platinum to purchase a Jet Sucker Machine for Mogalakwena Local Municipality last year that has not yet arrived.
Communities of Mokopane and extensions, Mahwelereng and Hospital View including livestock owners whose livestock feed on water from rivers and streams polluted by sewer deposits have been troubled by consistent sewer pipe bursts that spill and flow into households and stormwater drainage for more than 5 years to date.
According to the Municipality, this is due to aging infrastructure and population growth. In dealing with the problem, the municipality and the Department of Water and Sanitation developed a long-term and short-term plan the long-term plan is to replace the current aged infrastructure and the short-term plan is for the municipality to procure a jet sucker machine which will have the capacity to unblock the pipes that causes the spillages.
While the community does not have information on the progress of the plans to replace the sewage infrastructure, Anglo Platinum Mine had made commitments to procure the jet sucker machine since 2023 and that instantly brought hope to the affected communities that they will get short-term relief. While the mine was allowed to purchase the machine, the municipality would occasionally lease the machine from service providers, and that cost the municipality millions of rands. The leasing of the machine does not do justice to the financial health of the institution as the municipality is still under financial recovery from losses suffered due to rampant corruption, mal-administration, and money laundering from the previous administration. It has been more than 5 months that the municipality could not lease the machine with the hope that the much-awaited machine from the mine would finally arrive but to no avail.
While waiting for both the short-term and long-term plans to be implemented by both Mogalakwena Local Municipality and Anglo Platinum Mine, the lives of communities of Mogalakwena remain disrupted. In my view, this situation causes poor communities to live a life of poor quality due to a problem that is not of their making. This propels a dire need for communities to fight for justice and for the power holders to compensate all affected individuals and families for the loss they suffered for all these years they dealt with the ever-persisting problem of sewage spillages.
