Note to editors: Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Leanne De Jager MPL.
The ongoing sewage crisis at the Bronkhorstspruit Sewage Farm has left an estimated 62 500 residents exposed to raw sewage, contaminated water, and a collapsing local environment. This once again harms the health of residents living in the area. For years, sewage has overflowed from the plant, running into streets and residential erven, destroying access roads used daily by farmers and residents, and polluting the Bronkhorstspruit River system.
Local farmers have been forced to pay out of their own pockets to maintain a road that City of Tshwane trucks routinely destroy, while suspected livestock losses linked to contamination and pest infestation have still not been investigated.
The downstream consequences do not stop at the municipal boundary. Residents report that fish are dying in large numbers, that there is excessive algae growth, and that groundwater contamination is affecting boreholes. This impact extends into Mpumalanga, threatening Balmoral, Witbank, and ultimately the Loskop Dam catchment. This is not a local nuisance; it is a transboundary environmental disaster unfolding in slow motion while the City of Tshwane looks away.
In 2023, the Mpumalanga Department of Water and Sanitation opened a criminal case against the City of Tshwane for polluting local waterways. That case has gone nowhere. This week, a concerned resident was forced to open a further case under the National Water Act because ordinary citizens, not the responsible municipality, are the ones left to hold the line. It is unacceptable that residents must resort to laying criminal charges to force basic accountability from a city that has known about this crisis for years.
The DA understands that a R4 million contract to address the plant’s failures was approved by the City of Tshwane as far back as April this year. However, residents have been told funding will only be released in the new year due to budget constraints. A public health and environmental emergency of this scale cannot wait for the next financial cycle.
The DA demands that the City of Tshwane immediately release emergency funding to repair and upgrade the Bronkhorstspruit Sewage Farm, rather than delaying intervention to the next financial year. A full public account of the status of the R4 million contract approved in April 2026, including the appointed contractor and implementation timeline, must be provided. In addition, the access road to the plant, which has been maintained at the residents’ personal expense while City vehicles cause ongoing damage, must be repaired urgently.
Given the transboundary nature of this pollution and the City of Tshwane’s demonstrated failure to act, the DA will formally escalate this matter to the Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation, Dr Jack Bloom, requesting urgent national intervention. Residents and farmers along the Bronkhorstspruit River have carried the cost of this negligence for long enough.
A DA-led government would immediately ensure that emergency funding is released to repair and upgrade the sewage farm.