Despite submitting a plan to the court for refurbishing the Homevale Wastewater Treatment Plant (WTP), the Sol Plaatje Municipality in Kimberley faces criticism for relying on external contractors instead of using internal capacity.
Attorney Adrian Horwitz, representing Northern Cape Ranchers (NCR), who took the municipality to court over untreated sewage polluting Kamfers Dam, expressed concern that the plan lacked immediate solutions.
Untreated sewage pours into the dam, devastating local farmland and forcing endangered lesser flamingos to abandon the site due to deep, unsupportive water conditions.
The NCR returned to court this year after the municipality failed to meet a court-ordered deadline for submitting a comprehensive plan last year. They sought limitations on daily discharge volumes and demanded E.coli levels be reduced to meet public health standards.
Horwitz states the plan mostly involves medium to long-term goals and there is an overreliance on public tenders.
He questions why the municipality lacked internal infrastructure and skilled personnel to manage its own water treatment responsibilities.
“On the surface it appears that quite a lot of work is being put out for tender to repair the WTP, but again all remedial action is medium to long-term with nothing being done to immediately alleviate the situation in which there is currently 15 megaliters (ML) a day of raw sewage being discharged into the dam.
“Kimberley is a city with around 300 000 residents who require utility services including the provision of fresh water and the treatment of wastewater. Surely the municipality should have the necessary infrastructure and personnel skills in-house to maintain the treatment plants that go with both.”
Adrian Horwitz
“In my view, if the municipality does not have this capability, it is not doing its constitutional job and there ought to be a public enquiry and a programme of action. They must ensure that infrastructure is created and the necessary skills recruited since the infrastructure is old and requires constant repair, renovation and improvement.”
Horwitz says relying on public tenders to source outside service providers inevitably leads to lengthy delays and cost escalations.
Dysfunctional infrastructure compromised by theft, vandalism
Currently, the Homevale WTP has a capacity to treat 48ML, and receives 30ML of sewage daily; but treats only 15ML, due to dysfunctional infrastructure compromised by theft and vandalism.
The municipality’s latest plan includes R4,3 million for hiring a consulting engineer via tender, followed by a contractor to carry out an estimated eight-month refurbishment. Security is also being bolstered with internal reinforcements and support from Ekapa Mine.
Ekapa and the Kimberley Golf Course utilise the effluent from the plant, but about 15ML of untreated wastewater still enters Kamfers Dam each day.
The municipality has appointed a service provider for the Green Drop compliance plan and has completed training for plant operators to improve management and align with regulatory standards.
Additional corrective action involves replacing a collapsed 3km pipe essential for discharging treated water to the Vaal River. The municipality, with Transnet’s support, has received the replacement piping and earmarked R4 million for installation.
Procurement of the contractor is ongoing.
Meanwhile, agricultural company Malu Group has proposed using Kamfers Dam water for farming, claiming it is suitable without further treatment. However, implementation depends on resolving the collapsed pipe issue. The group is working with the municipality to formalise a service-level agreement.
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