Note to Editors: Attached please find a soundbite in English here and Afrikaans here by Leanne De Jager MPL.
The health and well-being of residents remain at risk due to raw sewage that continues to flow unabated into the Moreleta River. The City of Tshwane attempted to repair the pipe; however, the repair failed, and raw sewage is still leaking from it.
During a recent oversight inspection of the river, the Democratic Alliance (DA) Gauteng observed that the status quo remains.
This confirms that the City of Tshwane’s response has been inadequate and underscores the urgent need for a permanent, properly engineered repair rather than stop-gap measures that fail within weeks.
The Moreleta River joins the Hartebees Spruit system, which drains into the Pienaars River catchment and ultimately into the Roodeplaat Dam, which is a critical water resource for the region. Beyond the dam, the contamination flows further into the Pienaars River, then the Crocodile River, and ultimately toward the Limpopo River system.
For each day the pipe remains unrepaired, pollution travels further downstream, compounding the damage across an entire river network.
The residents of Pretoria deserve clean waterways, a healthy environment, and a government that responds when problems are reported, not one that ignores them until the damage becomes irreversible. The National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) and the National Water Act impose clear obligations on the government to prevent and remediate exactly this kind of pollution.
The DA Gauteng will continue to engage with the Deputy Minister of Water and Sanitation regarding the pollution of our waterways in the province. The national government has clear laws in place that need to be enforced.
A DA-led Gauteng provincial government has a plan to fix the environmental failures in the province. We will ensure that reported environmental hazards are addressed within a mandatory 48-hour timeframe. Consequence management would be implemented against officials who fail to act. The rivers, wetlands, and water sources will be protected as irreplaceable public assets.
The waterways of Gauteng must be protected, because clean water and a healthy environment are not privileges; they are rights that every Gauteng resident deserves to have defended.