Editorial comment published in Vaalweekblad’s edition of 3 October 2018
The Human Rights Inquiry, held last month at Stonehaven in Vanderbijlpark, into the vast sewage pollution of the Vaal River is seen by many as a milestone in concerned organisations’ and individuals’ fight for justice and the protection of the citizens of South Africa.
Here Mike Brucher, a concerned resident of the Vaal Triangle who mobilised the organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) with ERPA,GTCOC and SAVE the VAAL’s involvement in the inquiry, gives his opinion:
After a long, hard fight for the protection of communities affected by the ineptitude of a failed Government the long overdue Human Rights Commission intervenes in the Vaal Sewage Catastrophe.
When years of protracted legal battles and no less than six interdicts against the Emfuleni Local Municipality (ELM) by SAVE the Vaal, bore no fruit, it was time to expose the violation of basic human rights.
The last week in September 2018 will surely be remembered as the week it all came together and the community said “Enough is Enough”.
Pressure was on government from all sides to clean up their act and admit the truth. The testimony of concerned parties were delivered with reality exposed by the many groups and individuals that participated.
The OUTA testimony on the sewage related catastrophe which was the ignition source of the HRC intervention was brilliantly executed from an impartial point of view. When OUTA was asked to represent the local community in taking the Gauteng Premier to task, the ball started rolling fast and furious.
Teams were formed with specific ro-les and responsibilities, ie: Sewage, Refuse, Electricity, etc.
The plight of the community was reaching levels of revolt.
With the professional presentation by Michael Holenstein and his team the stage was set for interesting participation in an investigation into a situation that can only be described as a human rights catastrophe.
The total lack of accountability and unethical behavior by ELM over years came to a head when Raw Sewage spewing out “all over the communities” started affecting the basic rights of citizens.
OUTA has in the past months attempted to meet with ELM authorities to discuss community-driven solutions to the financial and service delivery crisis but was ignored. OUTA has repeatedly lobbied the Gauteng provincial government to intervene, develop a financial recovery plan for Emfuleni and provide us with a copy of that plan. Again, OUTA was ignored.
OUTA has repeatedly called for a copy of the debt repayment agreements between Emfuleni and Eskom and Rand Water. Again, OUTA was ignored.
OUTA has been unable to establish whether the provincial government has intervened in Emfuleni and, as far as we are aware, there is still no financial recovery plan.
Emfuleni remains in a state of chaos as its own council and management continue to ignore their responsibilities, while the provincial authorities fail to provide legislated oversight and intervention.
The behaviour of both the municipal and the provincial authorities demonstrates contempt for the residents of Emfuleni, as it excludes them from participation in finding solutions to Emfuleni’s crisis and leaves them to deal with the results of their municipality’s collapse, including the health risks of a collapse in the refuse removal and sewerage system, and the threat to industry, businesses and households of electricity and water cuts.
OUTA believes that the Emfuleni council and municipal management should be held personally liable for the damage caused by the collapse of services and that criminal charges should be brought where appropriate. The organisation believes that there should be a full investigation into Emfuleni’s finances, as there are strong indications of corruption and criminally culpable mismanagement.
This municipality should long ago have been declared a disaster area of national concern. OUTA welcomes the South African Human Rights Commission’s investigation into the Emfuleni situation and hopes that the Commission will find a way forward to the benefit of the Emfuleni community.
Let us collectively pray that the outcome serves to bring justice to the people.
