Despite the municipality reportedly spending over R200 million to fix sewer leaks, Emfuleni Local Municipality (EML) residents remain trapped in appalling conditions, surrounded by overflowing sewage that continues to seep into homes, streets, and public spaces, posing a serious threat to health and dignity.

This follows the Democratic Alliance (DA) questions tabled to the Gauteng MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Jacob Mamabolo, who revealed that the municipality spent more than R202 million on fixing leaks over the past five financial years.

Mamabolo disclosed that over the past five years, the municipality appointed 71 service providers to deal with ongoing sewage leaks.

Despite this, the problem persists. Notably, ALSANDRO Construction was paid over R24 million, and SOBANGENA received more than R23 million.

Between 2019 and 2024, the Emfuleni Local Municipality (EML) allocated over R200 million to address persistent sewage issues, spending over R51 million in 2019/20, more than R24 million in 2020/21, over R35 million in 2021/22, over R45 million in 2022/23, and more than R45 million in 2023/24.

Kingsol Chabalala, the DA's constituency head for Emfuleni North, criticised the municipality’s excessive spending, saying the hundreds of millions poured into fixing sewage issues have failed to improve conditions for residents. He also accused the Gauteng Department of COGTA of turning a blind eye, despite multiple formal appeals from the DA in Gauteng for urgent intervention.

He emphasised that the party is demanding urgent action from the Gauteng COGTA MEC, warning that if the issue is not addressed promptly, the DA will escalate the matter further.

“Should the MEC fail to intervene, the DA will escalate the matter to the South African Human Rights Commission since inadequate sanitation is a violation of human rights.”

Speaking to The Star, Emfuleni spokesperson Makhosonke Sangweni admitted to ongoing issues with the sewer system and assured that the municipality is actively working to resolve the problem and restore proper services.

“As much as we acknowledge shortfalls with our sewer reticulation system, the municipality is doing all in its power to normalise the service. All 45 pump stations are in operation, reliably feeding our 3 water care works in the area. Measures to improve the system and service are already underway, with the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) processes nearing completion.

“ELM is working hard to resolve most of the long-standing sewer challenges. Addressing sewer challenges in the area is ongoing work for our teams, our key objective is to find lasting solutions.”

He also stated that the municipality has enlisted 71 contractors on a flexible, as-needed basis to help accelerate service response times and ensure quicker resolution of issues.

“Addressing the Supply Chain issues, it must be noted that the municipality's supply chain policy, which is aligned to the Municipal Finance Management Act, was followed to appoint the contractors. The contractors are appointed in a panel for three years on a term contract. This allows for the contractors to be used on an as-and-when-required basis to fast-track service turnaround time. This is determined by the volumes of work, the availability of internal capacity and the complexity of the scope of work to be done,” he added.

He further mentioned that the aging infrastructure is in a deteriorating condition, often causing recurring pipe collapses. These incidents are reported daily to the municipality’s Customer Care Department and are promptly handled by the sewer response teams.

“The municipality manages more than 8000 kilometres of water and sanitation networks with 34,000 manholes, 3 Class A Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTP), 96 Pressure Reducing Valves (PRVs) and 45 Sewer Pump Stations (PS). We have been on record that our infrastructure is not in a good state, as most of it is old and often leads to sporadic and frequent instances of pipe collapse. The collapses are reported to our Customer Care Department daily and are attended to by our sewer teams.

To highlight the ongoing sewage issues, The Star previously reported that in early 2024, the municipality advised residents to boil their water due to suspected sewage contamination, which was believed to be caused by a collapsed sewer pipeline.

This is not the first instance the municipality has faced a similar crisis.

In 2021, the Sunday Independent reported that Emfuleni, which was placed under administration in 2018 due to financial mismanagement and poor service delivery, owed R1.3 billion to Rand Water.

Also in 2021, some residents were forced to use contaminated water, with reports indicating water shortages had been affecting them since November 2020.

This is a developing story, with many residents still grappling with persistent sewage issues. The Star continues to investigate.

The Star

masabata.mkwananzi@inl.co.za