Sikonathi Mantshantsha – News24 Investigations
For more than five years, the residents of Munsieville and Kagiso on the West Rand have had to live with sewage pouring into their homes and streets from broken municipal pipelines.
Those who live in the Blougatspruit valley have had to endure debilitating water and air pollution that has killed off businesses and farms, as the Mogale City Local Municipality dumps raw sewage into the river after failing to repair the stricken Percy Stewart Wastewater Treatment plant.
"If you live in a township, you have no dignity."
64-year-old Martha Mokoena from Kanana section in Evaton
Eight months on, Kagiso residents still live in sewage despite mayor’s promises
Eight months after Mogale City Mayor Lucky Sele promised to stop sewage spilling into the homes, people in Kagiso still mop up lumps of faeces daily. The Percy Stewart Wastewater Treatment Plant has started releasing much cleaner water into the river. Tourists are returning to the attractions around the Cradle of Humankind.
Rand Water forms new entity, takes charge of stricken Emfuleni’s water works
Rand Water has partnered with the Emfuleni Local Municipality to form a new special-purpose vehicle (SPV) to permanently take over the running and maintenance of the bulk water and sewage infrastructure in the Gauteng municipality. For the past four years, the water utility has been assisting the municipality in arresting a spiralling sewage pollution crisis and cleaning up sewage-covered streets and rivers.
Sewage spilling across Emfuleni as municipality returns unspent R640 million to Treasury
For over five years, sewage and water infrastructure collapsed across Gauteng's Emfuleni Local Municipality, resulting in sewage gushing from broken municipal pipes into people's homes, streets and into the Vaal River. In that period, the municipality failed to spend a R640-million infrastructure grant and forfeited it to National Treasury.
Dirty water, sewage being cleaned up after News24 expose - but crisis remains
While some residents of Mogale City have been left disappointed by the mayor's unfulfilled promise to stop the flow of raw sewage into their homes, a significant improvement can be observed across the municipality. The municipality has restored operations at four sewage pump stations, with another five to be restored over the next two years. Untreated sewage is still flowing into the rivers, but the Percy Stewart wastewater plant is on the mend, and should be fully compliant with regulations by early 2026.
Mogale City sewage disaster sees faece-laden river water testing 100 times above legal limit
The water in the Bloubankspruit, flowing into Hartebeespoort Dam and the Crocodile River, contains almost 100 times more faecal content than the regulatory limit. The poisonous, stinking substance has killed all aquatic life downstream, destroying businesses and farms and the livelihoods that rely on them. Residents of the less affluent Brickvale, Kagiso and Munsieville townships upstream have lived with sewage flowing in their yards for years.
Dead fish and dashed dreams in Mogale City sewage disaster
Mogale City's sewage pollution crisis is destroying businesses, farms and the Cradle of Mankind downstream, while ruining homes, costing township residents financial losses and causing health complications upstream. Raw sewage pouring down the rivers pollutes critical water sources in the Vaal, Crocodile Rivers and Hartebeespoort Dam, destroying the ecosystem and affecting food production on irrigated farms. While the municipality has belatedly taken steps to address the infrastructure breakdowns, a permanent solution seems years away and may be too late for farmers like Bobby Bain of Brookwood Trout Farm.
How raw sewage pumped by West Rand municipality is killing rivers, farms, and business
Infrastructure at Mogale City has collapsed. The municipality now deliberately releases thousands of litres of raw sewage into the rivers and residential areas. The sewage pollutes critical water sources such as the Vaal, Crocodile and Bloubankspruit rivers and the Hartbeespoort Dam. To stop the sewage flow, the Department of Water and Sanitation has paid the municipality more than R35 million to fund equipment repairs. However, the problem has become worse.
R300m down the drain as Mogale City's faecal fallout worsens
Despite the Department of Water and Sanitation paying more than R300 million over the past five years to help the Mogale City Local Municipality with repairs and maintenance of its sewage infrastructure, the situation has worsened, with more than half of the sewer pump stations and two-thirds of the water treatment plants broken.
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Journalist: Sikonathi Mantshantsha
Design: Sharlene Rood
News24 Production Editor: Hanlie Gouws
Image credits: Alfonso Nqunjana/News24; Rosetta Msimango/News24; Sikonathi Mantshantsha/News24; Thahasello Mphatsoe/News24; Supplied.
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