Consequence management now essential to ‘give teeth’ to HRC findings on water crisis – AfriForum
Effective consequence management in municipalities is now essential, according to AfriForum, in response to the large-scale deterioration of water and sanitation service delivery that the South African Human Rights Commission (HRC) revealed this week in a submission to the parliamentary portfolio committee on Water and Sanitation. AfriForum’s experience of deterioration is consistent with the HRC’s findings, but the civil rights organisation warns that mechanisms to hold underperforming municipalities to account – even in cases where court orders have been issued to remedy serious problems such as sewage dumping – currently appear to be ineffective.
According to Marais de Vaal, AfriForum’s advisor for Environmental Affairs, the application of consequence management, which includes, among other things, the establishment and monitoring of processes and mechanisms to manage compliance with legal obligations, must be done in the interest of accountability.
AfriForum welcomes the HRC’s investigation into the violation of human rights on access to clean water and a healthy environment due to the lack of water and sanitation service delivery in large parts of KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Free State. Problems identified include, among others, a lack of knowledge and technical skills in the management of water and sewage infrastructure; insufficient investment in the maintenance of infrastructure; poor financial discipline; the disregard for legal obligations; and the role played by corrupt officials and the water mafia in the theft and sabotage of infrastructure.
However, the organisation maintains that the oversight role that the provincial and national government is supposed to play is ineffective because it does not impose any consequences on underperforming municipalities. “Resolving the country’s water crisis requires the active involvement of communities and the independent management of water services. The fact that civil society organisations must approach the courts when municipalities blatantly disregard their legal obligations and then must check whether court orders are being complied with is indicative of the overall lack of consequences management,” De Vaal emphasises.
Case study: Belfast (also known as eMakhazeni)
The urgent need for effective consequence management is evident, among other things, in AfriForum’s long-standing struggle to resolve the sewage crisis in the Highveld town of Belfast. In this case, the town’s sewage infrastructure has already collapsed to such an extent that large quantities of sewage, due to broken pumping stations, never reach the wastewater treatment plant. In cases where sewage is pumped to the wastewater treatment plant, no processing takes place because the plant is completely dysfunctional. As a result, large-scale pollution has already occurred for the past almost 10 years and untreated sewage is still flowing through residential areas and into wetlands.
Since June 2021, AfriForum has repeatedly engaged with the Emakhazeni Local Municipality, which includes Belfast, to apply pressure on the Municipality to prioritise the urgent repair of the sewage treatment plant as well as the faulty sewer network. After all these remedies were exhausted, AfriForum approached the court in February 2024 again to force the Emakhazeni Municipality to fulfil its obligations to the community. On 31 October 2024, the Mpumalanga High Court ordered the Municipality to submit a comprehensive action plan to AfriForum by 13 December 2024, clearly outlining the planned upgrade, management and security of the pumping stations and wastewater treatment plant in question.
This plan had to contain detailed information regarding the repairs, modernisation and continued operational management of the facilities, together with a realistic and feasible timeline for the completion of the works. However, to date, such a plan has not been submitted and the pollution in this town continues unabated.
The court order further stipulates that all necessary upgrades and repairs must be completed within a period of 60 months. The Emakhazeni Municipality was further ordered to implement temporary emergency measures to prevent continued pollution until the full repair of the pumping stations is completed. In addition, the Municipality is obliged to submit bimonthly progress reports to AfriForum, detailing the status of the operations and any possible deviations from the planned timeframe.
An onsite inspection conducted by AfriForum on 7 February this year to determine whether the court order is being complied with does not inspire much confidence. Although it appears that concrete steps are finally being taken to repair the sewerage infrastructure, the Municipality is still not fully complying with the court order.
Arlo van Heerden, AfriForum’s District Coordinator for the Lowveld, says that after years of neglect, the community welcomes the repairs that the Emakhazeni Municipality has already done to two pumping stations, as well as the positive signs that further repairs at the Glisa and Old Madala pumping stations will soon commence.
“Nevertheless, we are still concerned about the Municipality’s disregard for the court order,” Van Heerden emphasises. According to him, there is an unwillingness to communicate with the community with transparency and there is also a complete lack of security at the pumping stations, which leaves them extremely vulnerable to vandalism. “It would be a shame if millions of rands worth of repairs were undone by the municipality, which leaves the door wide open for criminals, as it were. AfriForum undertakes to further discuss practical measures to address these shortcomings with the municipality.”
The situation currently unfolding in Belfast is unfortunately just one example of a long list of court cases about inadequate water and sanitation service delivery across the country in which AfriForum is currently involved and highlights the overall lack of consequences management.
