Mpumalanga residents consider rates boycott to protest against endless water problems

Farmer Jan Grey holds a sample of sewage-polluted water from the foaming Klein Drinkwater stream near Ermelo, Mpumalanga. Photo: Tony Carnie

By Tony Carnie

30 Jun 2024

Residents of Ermelo and surrounding towns have been let down by the Msukaligwa municipality, which has largely ignored a court order to halt pollution from the local wastewater treatment works.

It’s been nine months since the national custodian of South Africa’s water resources dragged a local municipality to the high court, hoping to pull the handbrake on the prolonged tide of untreated sewage fouling river systems on the Mpumalanga Highveld.

Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu won the case in September, but the high hopes generated by the judge’s clean-up directive appear to have been stillborn.

The pollution of the Vaal River catchment and other service delivery failures continue. Now communities in Ermelo and neighbouring towns are pushing for more drastic action to capture the attention of the Msukaligwa Local Municipality, which includes Breyten and Chrissiesmeer.

“A lot of people find it a little scary to take on the government. But we pay for municipal services, so it’s not as if they are doing us a favour. We are not talking about burning tyres or buildings, but take away the money and see how fast they move,” Durban businessman and municipal rates protest leader Asad Gaffar suggested at a public meeting at the Ermelo Inn on 5 June.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Civilians spearhead eThekwini ratepayers’ revolt in bid to fix municipality and set up oversight of public purse

Gaffar, head of the eThekwini Ratepayers’ Protest Movement, visited Ermelo at the invitation of the Msukaligwa Business and Community Forum, which was set up four years ago to hold the municipality to account for a string of service delivery failures.

Forum chair Janice Conradie complained that the local municipality has done little to address business and community concerns about regular municipal tap water outages, burst water pipes and sewage overflows that have forced some farmers to abandon part of their land or to switch over to expensive borehole supply and pumping projects.

water sewage pollution Surrounded by new housing, this small patch of fenced land is the source of the mighty Vaal River. A tiny stream of crystal-clean water rises from the ground here near Breyten. (Photo: Tony Carnie)

Conradie told residents that the time for complaining was over, noting that even the urgent high court interdict won by Mchunu has not made a difference.

Gaffar, who helped to galvanise a rates boycott in Durban’s Westville in 2023, acknowledged that his movement “made some mistakes” during a recent court case, but said the group is planning further legal action in Durban.

“In Ermelo there is already a court order in place compelling the municipality to do what it is supposed to do, so the community must stand together. It can’t be one or two or even 50 people. It has to be everyone. If we don’t do something today, in five or 10 years it will be worse.”

Responding to concerns from the floor, Gaffar did not shy away from fears that residents could have their electricity disconnected if they withhold rates payments – as happened to five members of the Westville Ratepayers’ Association in 2023.

“There can be no progress without sacrifice. The risk of disconnection is real. But you are entitled to receive the services you pay for,” Gaffar said.

He noted that the Municipal Systems Act provides for a formal process to resolve disputes, including clauses that prohibit disconnections when disputes are not resolved.

Our family used to fish and swim in the river or have weekend picnics under the willow trees. But look at it now – even the cattle turn up their noses.

In 2023, the Westville Ratepayers Association lost an interdict application heard by acting Judge Jabu Thobela-Mkhulisi, who questioned whether section 102 (2) of the act was applicable in the dispute.

However, in a more recent court ruling on 31 May, acting Judge Andrew Reddy ordered the Ditsobotla Local Municipality in North West to reconnect electricity to Lichtenburg property owners who have declared a formal dispute with the municipality under the same act.

Read more in Daily Maverick: No water, no way out: Ditsobotla’s downfall and the collapse of government

Back in Ermelo and surrounding towns that form part of the Msukaligwa municipality, it now seems to be up to residents to decide whether they will declare formal disputes and withhold rates.

Daily Maverick visited earlier in June and spoke to several residents who are tired of poor service delivery. Farmer Jan Grey drove us to the Klein Drinkwater stream, named for its once pure-tasting water. On the day we visited, the stream looked more like the foaming outlet of a washing machine.

Breyten Primary School deputy principal Paul van Rooyen says more than 600 children rely on tankers for drinking water, along with rainwater tanks to flush toilets. (Photo: Tony Carnie)

Chrissiesmeer builder Sizwe Mahlangu says his tap water is often undrinkable. (Photo: Tony Carnie)

Grey said sewage leaks from the Ermelo and Davel wastewater treatment works happen almost daily, rendering the water unhealthy for his herd of dairy cattle and also unsuitable for the irrigation of export-quality apples to the EU.

Kerneels Jansen van Rensburg, who owns a large herd of Beefmaster cattle, said he started to experience 3% to 5% losses with his calves about a decade ago, which he believes is linked to high sewage pollution loads in a stream running through his farm.

“Calves started to die, get sick or they would not suckle. So I had to install boreholes, along with expensive pipes and pumps, to provide an alternative source of clean water.

“When we arrived here 22 years ago, this was a beautiful, clean stream. Our family used to fish and swim in the river or have weekend picnics under the willow trees. But look at it now – even the cattle turn up their noses,” he said.

In the coal-mining town of Breyten, several residents complained that the municipal tap water is either patchy or undrinkable. Kobus van Aswegen, manager of a bottle store, relies on drinking-water supplies from local farmers because the water is not fit to drink or cook with.

“You can’t even wash your clothes in it at times because it’s so brown,” he said.

Nombuso Mahlangu, a teacher at Breyten Primary School, said there has been no tap water in her home for the past three months. Paul van Rooyen, the school’s deputy principal, said municipal water supplies improved slightly before the elections, but have been poor for more than a year.

Roughly 80% of the time there was no water in the taps, and when it did flow it was so polluted that it stained your clothes.

“Three weeks ago we were on the point of closing the school because there was no drinking water for our children,” he said.

When Van Rooyen phoned the municipality to explain that he was facing a water emergency and would have to send more than 600 pupils home, officials hastily deployed water tankers. “So, we now have some drinking water again, but it’s still not ideal or a permanent solution.

“We capture water from the roofs during the summer to flush the toilets with buckets, but this is not a rich area and the monthly school fee of R320 barely covers the basic bills. We would like to put in a borehole, but we don’t have the money – even for basic maintenance and repairs.”

In the nearby hamlet of Chrissiesmeer, restaurant owner Jan Bezuidenhout stopped drinking the municipal tap water two years ago. “Roughly 80% of the time there was no water in the taps, and when it did flow it was so polluted that it stained your clothes – and yet we call this area South Africa’s Lake District. There are over 230 lakes and pans around Chrissiesmeer.”

Fellow resident Sizwe Mahlangu echoed these concerns, observing that municipal water supply has been poor or erratic for nearly four years.

“The water you get here is red from soil or has little worms and insects floating inside it. So I get drinking water from a farm borehole instead.”

In 2023, when Mchunu took the municipality to court, council officials did not bother denying the problems. Judge Bruce Langa noted that official complaints against the municipality dated to at least 2016.

“The uncontroverted facts from all the investigations, inspections and tests conducted established that both the effluent discharged from the Ermelo wastewater treatment works and the manholes overflowing with raw sewage were polluting the water resource and posed a serious health threat to human lives, aquatic species and livestock that depend on the water resource,” the judge said.

The gist of Msukaligwa’s defence was that Mchunu and his department had failed to comply with a formal intergovernmental dispute resolution mechanism or it “failed to engage” the council properly before it resorted to litigation. The municipality also cited financial constraints to comply with the law.

Judge Langa said it was clear that Msukaligwa recognised the extent and seriousness of the problems, “even though it has for some inexplicable reasons remained supine for about five years”.

“The communities of Ermelo have clearly been let down by their local government. This is unacceptable and constitutes an act of constitutional delinquency on the part of [Msukaligwa municipality] which should be frowned upon.”

The Department of Water and Sanitation confirmed that the municipality had not complied fully with Judge Langa’s order.

Responding to queries, the municipality said it was in the “planning phase” of implementing the court directive.

Farmer Jan Grey holds a sample of sewage-polluted water from the foaming Klein Drinkwater stream near Ermelo in Mpumalanga. (Photo: Tony Carnie)

It has appointed an environmental specialist to apply for a water use licence and compile an environmental rehabilitation plan that would be implemented in the 2024/25 financial year.

It would also be necessary to upgrade the Ermelo sewage treatment works to cater for increased sewage flows from the town, and a technical report has been submitted to source funds for the upgrade.

Regarding tap water shortages, Msukaligwa said it would implement a project funded through a regional bulk infrastructure grant to upgrade its bulk-water infrastructure.

It noted that the local business forum had already declared disputes and was engaging with those concerned.

Municipal spokesperson Mandla Zwane said: “The municipality has always acknowledged that there are indeed challenges with its infrastructure – water, sanitation, electricity, roads and stormwater – and it has never disregarded its legislated responsibility of providing these services as effectively as it possibly can.” DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.

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