Is it necessary to threaten the municipality with a court interdict before sewerage spills are attended to or solved?

The Makhado Municipality’s response to this is a definite “no” as their mandate is to deliver services.

Mr Dennis Gilbert of Specialised Oil Extractions in Louis Trichardt’s industrial area followed all possible avenues to get the municipality to attend to the sewage spillages at two of his business premises. An attorney’s letter was delivered on Monday, giving the municipality three days to rectify the sewage spillages before the High Court would be approached for an interdict to compel them to comply with their duties in order to have the problem corrected. The letter states that a special punitive cost order will be obtained against officials of the municipality.

“It is confirmed that it seems as if the Makhado Municipality is not regarding this problem as serious enough and, therefore, you do not dedicate your undivided attention as well as services in order to correct this problem,” reads the attorney’s letter.

The sewage spill on the premises in 1 Industria Road endangered not only the lives of the employees, but also endangered the export avocado and macadamia-nut oils. The spill was reported to the municipality repeatedly by employee Mr Phineas Malema since November 11.

A problem mentioned by Gilbert was that the municipal teams did come out to look at the spillage but then left without doing anything.

The threatening hazard was also reported to the manager of the Soutpansberg Ratepayers Association (SRPA), Ms Aretha Smith. Smith worked tirelessly, travelling an average of 30km daily back and forth between the municipality and Specialised Oil Extractions.

“Phone calls are not as effective as physically sitting at the municipality and showing them photos of the spills. You have to apply pressure continuously. If there is a promise that someone will be sent out, I wait for them at the site. If they do not arrive, I drive back to the municipality to follow up,” Smith said.

On Monday, the municipal workers were busy working at the spillage at 08:13. By 11:30, the sewage overflow level had dropped!

“At last! The three weeks of applying pressure was worth it!” said Smith on Tuesday. Gilbert confirmed that one spillage problem had been attended to.

“It is the duty of the municipality to correct the problem. But why do they take so long? Thanks to the hard work of Aretha, the situation was brought under control,” Gilbert said. He also had to go and see his attorney, due to the seriousness of the matter.

“We trust that the [attorney's] letters will also have the effect that the municipality will start paying attention to the sewage spillage at 1 Unika Road, where Pakmark is situated,” Smith said. The sewage spill there has been a problem for more than six weeks now, and by Monday the municipality had yet to attend to it.

The attorney’s letter had to be signed by the municipal manager, Mr Shadrack Tshikalange, the manager of the civil engineering department, Ms Tendani Tshisha, the superintendent of water affairs, Mr David Mukosi, the building control officer, Ms Julia Muruge, and the plumber, Mr Josias Maregarey.

The letter states that the matter will be reported to the Public Protector for further investigations and mal-administration, as well as to the MEC for Local Government and the Hotline of President Jacob Zuma for further investigation. “ ...this poor service delivery and this health hazard being created to the public and the factories will not be tolerated any further,” states the letter.

Municipal spokesperson Mr Louis Bobodi said on Tuesday that the municipality “does not have to wait for pressure groups or measures or for people to indulge into protest actions before they render services. It is the municipality’s mandate to deliver services to our people,” Bobodi said.