Criminal charges have been laid by the Department of Economic Development, Tourism & Environmental Affairs (Edtea) against eThekwini Metro officials, with court papers outlining alleged rampant failures by the city to tackle infrastructural issues from as far back as 2020, resulting in the current rocketing E.Coli levels in rivers and lagoons and at beaches.
The city is in a downward spiral of decline, particularly regarding water and sewage crises that have been ongoing since before the April 2022 floods, reports News24.
A responding affidavit court document submitted by Bonginkosi Dlamini, acting chief director and director of compliance, monitoring and enforcement in the department, confirmed the dire state of affairs, his revelations this week coming after Edtea and the office of MEC Siboniso Duma responded to legal proceedings instituted by ActionSA.
ActionSA had approached the KZN High Court last year hoping to compel the eThekwini Metro and other departments to solve the ongoing sewage crisis, wanting the courts to force government to appoint an independent party to guide the resolution process. The case is expected to be heard by 27 February.
The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has also called on Water & Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu to compel the the municipality to address high levels of E. coli in its rivers.
Outa said the municipality had claimed that its beaches were safe, but in fact the rivers urgently needed attention: in partnership with the NGO Adopt-A-River, it had conducted several tests in the Umbilo River.
“E. coli tests showed that the E. coli levels downstream from the Umbilo Wastewater Treatment Works (UWWTW) were 10 times higher than upstream from the treatment works,” OUTA KZN spokesperson Jonathan Erasmus said.
“The upstream E. coli count was 5 810/100ml, and 61 310/100ml downstream from the treatment works. A water body is deemed critical and dangerous to human health if the E. coli level exceeds 400/100ml,” he added.
Erasmus said the Blue Lagoon along the Umgeni River had also been affected. “The E. coli count was a massive 10 810 000/100ml, while the Umdloti River’s reading was 2 987/100ml.”
He added that the readings could easily change for the worse, depending on sea currents.
eThekwini municipality spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela described the situation as serious, saying they had linked the E. coli levels in the rivers to floods during the first half of 2022.
He told News24 the city had the capacity to address the issue, but did not say what was being done to address it.
eThekwini and other government departments missed their deadlines to respond to ActionSA this week, but the party extended its deadline for responding to submissions.
Dlamini's was the only department to respond on time, with him unveiling startling facts about the inaction and inadequate measures by senior Metro officials.
He was scathing in his response, shifting liability to eThekwini and showing that the city had failed to manage sewage for many years before the April 2022 floods eroded already aged and poorly maintained infrastructure.
The Auditor-General’s assessment of the city last week also confirmed the lack of maintenance, revealing that for the 2021/22 financial year, repairs and maintenance spending was just 6.59%, while total capital expenditure spending was a mere 5.14%.
Charges against officials
Dlamini said the department had also laid criminal charges against eThekwini manager of water and sanitation Ednick Msweli, former city manager Sipho Cele, and current city manager Musa Mbhele.
He said the charges related to the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA).
"Various criminal cases were opened against the municipality (and officials) in respect of various contraventions, relating to various areas of contravention."
The city said it will not comment because of ongoing legal processes.
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