Nahoon estuary, the beach and the Ihlanza river used to be a major part of East London beach tourism before it morphed inexplicably into a virtual sewage containment lagoon.
Like the tailings dams used on the mines, the resulting fallout is toxic and environmentally harmful.
The historic “Turdy” was a smelly joke among surfers and beachgoers since the 1960s, now it’s a recurrent disaster.
Dean Knox, of Jonginene, an eco-adventure company based at Nahoon, has documented and photographed more than 40 sewage spills between 2020 and 2025, resulting in the beach being closed for a cumulative total of one year over the past four years.
The spills invariably result from the overflow outlets of the Ihlanza River pump station.
When sewage backs up at this point, due to power failures (there is no functional backup system) or other technical glitches, it cannot be pumped up the hill to the East Bank treatment works and flows into the river/beach.
Another routine failure occurs when inspection covers on the sewer pipe that follows the river course, ‘pop’ due to blockages in the pipeline or unusually large volumes of illegal stormwater ingress.
For environmental and civic groups such as Green Ripple, Save Nahoon, Love Nahoon, Tidy Towns Buffalo City, and various estuary forums, it is becoming increasingly clear that the bypass outlets that spill sewage onto the beach are not just sporadic mishaps but part of a system, albeit one that remains plausibly deniable.
Save Nahoon’s Kevin Harris notes: “We’ve tried everything: consultations, mediation, public campaigns, even court battles but the destruction rages on.”
After several protests and petitions, the lobby groups are now so desperate they are considering hiring their own engineers.
Buffalo City Metro’s (BCM) response is largely to claim that there is no budget to rectify the issue.
In its annual report 2022/23, BCM points out that wastewater is managed through a network comprising about 2,442km of reticulated pipes, 97 sewage pump stations, and 15 treatment works.
Three of the treatment works are nearing the end of their functional life and their ingress will be redirected to the R450m upgraded Zwelitsha Regional Wastewater plant.
The Mdantsane, Potsdam, Berlin, and several other plants, have not undergone major refurbishments in the last 20 years, leading to critical deterioration in mechanical and electrical equipment.
The Reeston plant was recently upgraded to improve its capacity.
In 2023, BCM conceded that: “The sewerage infrastructure throughout BCM is generally in a fair to poor condition, with some catchments faced with inadequate conveyance and treatment capacity and ageing infrastructure, resulting in periodic spillages into the river systems and environment in general.”
Ageing and decayed sewerage infrastructure is a common feature of most significant cities in SA.
The question is more about the response. Are the necessary capital grants being accessed to fund infrastructure replacement and major upgrades?
Does the municipality spend enough on operation and maintenance?
Is the maintenance and repair well planned and managed?
Is procurement efficient and free of waste and corruption?
Is sewerage infrastructure properly protected from theft, vandalism and sabotage?
In BCM’s case, the answers reveal disturbing trends.
The auditor-general (2023 audit report) confirms that the municipality is not falling seriously short in the infrastructure spend.
But the spend on repair and maintenance is supposed to be a minimum of 8% of the value of infrastructure assets. In BCM’s case it was just 1%.
In January 2025, the auditor-general cautioned: “The information provided in the performance reports is not reliable enough for the council, the public, and other stakeholders to effectively assess the municipality’s performance.”
The auditor-general cited the following example of wasted spending: “In February 2016, Buffalo City Metro appointed a contractor to improve the bulk regional sewerage scheme for Bhisho, Qonce [formerly King William’s Town] and Zwelitsha.
“The planned project completion date of January 2019 was later changed to March 2021 due to the Covid-19 outbreak, community unrest, contractor non-performance, procurement irregularities and subsequent litigation processes.
“At the time of our site visit in November 2023, the project had not been completed and there was evidence of theft and vandalism because the site was not secured.”
The AG later reported that the contract had been terminated in November 2021 due to nonpayment by BCM.
A similar scenario of missed deadlines for valve replacement unfolded at the Buffalo River pump station.
Most shocking, however, was that in the 2023/24 follow up by the auditor-general, only three of the 15 sewage treatment works were found to be functional.
The Nahoon issue did not escape the auditor-general’s attention: “The Nahoon River and Estuary was identified as a focus area due to bulk outfall sewer discrepancies, increased communal developments, and pollution.”
According to the auditor-general causes included lack of employee accountability and performance management, the absence of consequences for indiscipline or irregularity and generally weak oversight of finances and performance.
Another possible snag is simply that the realities uncovered by the auditor-general do not resonate in the BCM corridors of managerial power.
In 2023, BCM participated in a self-assessment survey of Water Services Vulnerabilities (report dated Friday March 31 2023) run by the department of water & sanitation and the SA Local Government Association (Salga).
Senior municipal financial and technical managers responded.
Importantly, the survey included topics such as waste water impact on environmental safety and compliance with associated legislation.
Perhaps predictably, since it was managers responding, water and sanitation services were rated very highly in relation to technical management skills (99%), service quality (98%), performance monitoring (99%), staff skills (90%) and IT (89%). These scores translate to low vulnerability in these attributes.
In relation to wastewater/environmental safety and regulatory compliance, the function most relevant to the persistent Ihlanza sewage issue, the BCM managers scored performance at 74% and therefore of medium vulnerability.
However, in relation to the all-important operation and maintenance of assets, the managers were slightly more realistic and scored themselves 65%.
Of the 18 water and sanitation factors assessed, the managers rated 13 to be of low vulnerability, five of moderate vulnerability, one of high/moderate vulnerability and none of extreme vulnerability.
The managers also claimed that sound governance systems were in place for water and sanitation.
The auditor-general’s report, however, revealed that council oversight committees had done little to ensure performance and prevent irregular and wasteful expenditure.
Council, according to the managers, is aware of all pollution incidents/environmental deficiencies and takes appropriate action with more than 75% of financial needs met.
In contrast, the auditor-general found that “there is ineffective oversight responsibility regarding compliance, financial and performance reporting.
“The managers conceded, however, that 20% or more of wastewater is not delivered to the treatment works and there are few systems in place to deal with vandalism or sabotage of infrastructure.”
The Nahoon activist groups have dealt with front-line managers who appear to understand the Ihlanza calamity and how it can be resolved.
The problem may be that this reality, backed up by the auditor-general’s report and even BCM’s own annual reports, may not be shared by the most senior strata of BCM management.
- Glenn Hollands has written books on Nahoon and works in municipal governance and community safety.
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