The Bethal regional court in Secunda, Mpumalanga, has ordered the Govan Mbeki local municipality to pay a R150-million fine for polluting water resources and contravening environmental legislation.
This comes after the court found the municipality guilty of causing significant pollution to the environment, interfering with waterworks, pollution of water resources, an act that detrimentally affects a watercourse, and failure to comply with compliance notices.
The Department of Water and Sanitation welcomed the heavy fine, saying the municipality was fined for five counts relating to contravening the National Environmental Waste Management Act and National Water Act.
Series of interventions
The department said the conviction and sentence come after a series of intervention measures undertaken by the department against the municipality since 2019, in line with the constitution and the intergovernmental framework.
The Water and Sanitation Department’s director-general, Sean Phillips, said in December 2019 and March 2020, the department issued the municipality with directives to make representations addressing the risk assessment, intervention and potential rehabilitation plan, and to implement all the recommendations in respect of the underlying problem in the area of jurisdiction.
However, the municipality failed to respond and adhere to the conditions of the directives issued to them within the stipulated timeframes.
Enforcement team commended
“In November 2020, the municipality compiled an assessment report and intervention plan with an approved budget for the commencement of a rehabilitation project in the area; however, no rehabilitation was implemented,” Phillips said.
Phillips commended the enforcement team, saying the judgment has asserted the department’s role as a regulator of the water and sanitation sector.
“It has been our resolve to take all transgressors of the National Water Act to task and send a strong message that if people and institutions do not comply, we will not hesitate to act, without fear or favour.
“We want to strengthen our role as a regulator of the sector in line with all the prescripts,” said Phillips. – SAnews.gov.za
