Sewage crisis chokes South African communities
· Citizen
Communities across the country are under siege from a sewage crisis, with raw sewage increasingly spilling into streets, homes, rivers and dams, exposing residents to foul smells, environmental pollution and potential health risks.
Visit casino-promo.biz for more information.
From the Letaba River in Limpopo to the Vaal River System in North West and Free State, a growing number of communities are grappling with collapsed wastewater systems, with untreated sewage destroying the environment.
Wastewater plants in serious distress
The extent of the problem was revealed in May when National Council of Provinces (NCOP) delegates conducting an oversight visit to the City of Matlosana found two wastewater treatment plants in serious distress.
At the Klerksdorp wastewater treatment plant, delegates discovered the facility had been out of operation since March 2023, with untreated wastewater flowing into the Skoonspruit River and eventually into the Vaal River.
The department of water and sanitation told the delegation the municipality had received non-compliance notices in 2018 and 2021 and that a criminal case was opened against it in February this year.
The situation at the plant was described by NCOP delegate Dennis Ryder as “a crime scene”.
Delegates also found workers manually separating waste at inlet points because machinery was no longer functioning.
The facility reportedly had no perimeter fencing, leaving critical infrastructure vulnerable to vandalism and theft.
Untreated sewage reaches the Vaal River
At the Hartebeesfontein wastewater treatment plant, the delegation was told that the facility had been dysfunctional since December 2025 because of severe inlet blockages.
The plant, with a treatment capacity of eight megalitres, was apparently discharging untreated sewage into the Vaal River through the Jagspruit River.
WaterCan executive director Ferrial Adam said the problem should not be viewed as isolated incidents involving individual municipalities.
She pointed to the case of raw sewage allegedly entering the Letaba River in Limpopo, where independent laboratory testing at three sites outside a wastewater treatment plant reportedly classified the water as class IV.
The tests recorded E. coli levels of more than 2 420 per 100ml.
Communities demand action over polluted rivers
Adam said such results indicated substantial faecal contamination and raised concerns about exposure to pathogens.
“The reality is this is not an isolated issue – it’s across South Africa,” she said.
Adam also said the reported figure could underestimate the actual level of contamination because of the testing methodology used.
She said nationally WaterCan has assisted communities to lay charges against the municipalities for failing to manage sewage overflowing into the rivers.
“In most cases, we don’t open cases against the municipality; instead, we report the managers, so that they must be held accountable as the people failing to do their jobs,” Adam said.
In Tzaneen, community leader Elizabeth Shingange said sewage had been flowing into the Letaba River since 2023.
She said residents had repeatedly raised the problem with the municipality, but remained without a lasting solution.
Shingange said the municipality’s employees dealing with water don’t even drink water from that river.
“Only the communities are surviving on that filthy water. We are tired of this; the government must fix the problem,” she said.
The Greater Tzaneen municipality has previously faced criticism over sewage infrastructure, including allegations of sewage overflows and river contamination.
Sewage problems spread across provinces
Municipal spokesperson Neville Ndlala did not respond to questions about the latest allegations.
The problem is widespread. In the Northern Cape, sewage spills in Kuruman and Colesberg have also prompted calls for intervention and accountability, while communities continue to report overflowing sewer networks and failing wastewater infrastructure.
In the Free State, residents of Nyakallong township in Matjhabeng municipality have described years of sewage problems, with raw sewage reportedly flowing through streets and into Voëlpan Dam, locally known as “Stinkpan“.