Ramaphosa inspects water problems in troubled Emfuleni municipality

Standing on the corner of a pothole-riddled street in extension 11 in Evaton West in Sebokeng on Friday, Mduduzi Mkhonza waited eagerly to show President Cyril Ramaphosa a knee-deep sewage pit which has been making the lives of the community hell. 

But this did not happen because Ramaphosa's programme was changed during the day and he ended up not visiting that particular area.

A disappointed Mkhonza said: “I have been living here for 15 years and there is a sewage pipe running through here which is broken and the sewage is spilling into the street, our homes and seeps into the bathtubs.”

Mkhonza, 49, wanted to tell the president about the service delivery challenges plaguing his community but did not get a chance to.

Ramaphosa was in Emfuleni local municipality to conduct an oversight visit to assess the progress on service delivery as part of the government’s district development model (DDM). 

The municipality is plagued by service delivery issues including raw sewage flowing into streets, uncollected refuse and electricity power supply.

In 2021, a South African Human Rights Commission report found prima facie evidence of human rights violations in the Emfuleni municipality regarding the flow of raw, untreated sewage.

Explaining what happened, Ramaphosa said: “This is a very big area, it’s a big district. I did, however, go to a house of Wendy Ndlovu. I went into her bedroom and I saw what sewage has done to her furniture.

“So I was exposed to the havoc and the damage that the sewage has done. If we had an opportunity to go to the other area, I would have gone. I would have never held back.”

Ramaphosa said he led the group into Ndlovu’s house. 

“Even if people wanted to hide what I should not see, I would have gone. That's how I roll. I want to see things because it is when we see these things that we are able to come up with solutions and interventions. I have seen, and I will be back to see the progress and I will even go to the west areas,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mkhonza explained his situation. 

“What hurts is that I have a disabled child ... and all of this can affect her. We have respiratory problems and we are not sure whether it is because of this,” he said, pointing to the raw sewage. 

“The rains wash down and block everything so we would like the government to fix the sewerage problem in the community immediately. We are praying that it does not rain because we are going to have a problem. 

“The community is not lazy but we cannot clean raw sewage. This is raw sewage and we cannot touch it because no one is going to give us the appropriate gear to handle it. When the president comes, I only have one request: I want him to handle this situation himself because we have tried [water & sanitation minister] Senzo Mchunu and he did not come,” he added. 

While Mkhonza was talking, ANC MMC Tumi Mochawe drove past in a new BMW X3.  When asked how he felt about driving a luxurious vehicle while people live in squalor, he said: “I am an MMC, I can afford to drive that car. It cannot be that we are talking service delivery and you are diverting to my beautiful car. What do you suggest I do, drive a Tazz?” 

Earlier, water and sanitation minister Senzo Mchunu said Ramaphosa had visited the Sebokeng wastewater treatment plant to assess the progress in refurbishing the plant. 

“This wastewater has for some time been giving trouble to the residents in the area. We found that Emfuleni local municipality was overpowered by the work that needed to be done to get the services to the level required.

“We appointed Rand Water because the plant was polluting the Vaal River which is supporting about 20-million people excluding Namibia. So if you pollute this river to an extended basis, you are putting the lives of those people in danger. 

“It was imperative that we intervene. We appointed Rand Water last year July to work on sanitation services here which included waster water treatment plants that were dysfunctional, if not totally collapsed,” said Mchunu.

This included taking over the waste pump stations and sewer lines underground. “We have made remarkable progress,” said Mchunu. 

He assured residents this was not another of the government’s “talk shops”.

“What we are looking at is the district development model where we say possibly Emfuleni does not have capacity in the foreseeable future of taking off from where Rand Water would have left, there is nothing that shows that they will be able to operate and manage on their pump stations and to prevent them regressing.

“We are saying Emfuleni must appoint a water and sanitation service provider under them that will do the job of water and sanitation services for the people of Emfuleni, at the required quality and level. 

“They are seeking to appoint Rand Water as a service provider to do it for them because they cannot do it themselves — they have no capacity, I have seen it with my own eyes. 

“They are trying to catch up, but it is not really doable in the foreseeable future.” 

Gauteng premier Panyazi Lesufi admitted that Emfuleni has been experiencing challenges.

“Some of the difficulties were influenced by the economic situation that we find ourselves in as a country and so the intergovernmental intervention of all the teams through the DDM has been really helpful,” he said.

“We can lament about the failures of the municipalities [and their] history of nonperformance, but today we want to showcase how far we have come to take this municipality out of the situation they have found themselves.” 

The provincial government has intervened by providing power and replacing transformers, he said.

“A good story is developing out of Emfuleni. Indeed we started on a lower base but we are accelerating and cruising appropriately, but we must manage that accelerating so that it does not collapse or crash.”

Cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) minister Thembi Nkadimeng said Emfuleni has been fraught with accountability issues. 

“Currently the municipality’s account is untouched. They don’t even have funds to run a number of their businesses ... We will turn the situation around,” she said.

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