The Buffalo City Metro has come under fire from the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), which found the municipality had violated residents’ constitutional rights by failing to address wastewater pollution and deteriorating sanitation infrastructure dating back more than three years.
An SAHRC investigation found the metro performed worst among the three municipalities assessed — Buffalo City, Nelson Mandela Bay and Kouga — for failures in wastewater treatment infrastructure.
The commission found all three municipalities had infringed sections 10 and 24 of the constitution, which guarantee the rights to dignity and to an environment that is not harmful to health or wellbeing.
Buffalo City’s West Bank Wastewater Treatment Works was singled out as the worst-performing facility.
The plant has repeatedly been the subject of Daily Dispatch reports since 2014 highlighting its deteriorating condition.
As part of its investigation, the commission appointed an accredited laboratory to conduct water sampling in October last year at selected wastewater, river, estuary and coastal sites.
The results painted a grim picture for BCM.
Samples from the West Bank facility recorded E.coli levels of 616,000 per 100ml, faecal coliforms exceeding 100,000 CFU/100ml and total coliforms of 712,000 per 100ml.
The commission said the E.coli concentration was about 1,232 times higher than the minimum acceptable coastal recreational water standard of 500 per 100ml, while faecal coliform levels exceeded the general limit of 1,000 per 100ml by more than 100 times.
Though treated wastewater is discharged into rivers, dams and the sea rather than directly into household water supplies, the commission said the contamination posed a severe environmental and public health risk.
Municipal spokesperson Luzuko Buku said the metro respected the commission’s role as a Chapter Nine institution and would study the report before providing a detailed response.
“It should be noted that the report itself indicates that ‘the evidence does not establish that every river, estuary or beach is permanently unsafe, nor that every elevated coastal result arose from a specific wastewater source’.
“We therefore appeal against a generalisation of the findings based on the two samples conducted by the SAHRC.”
Buku said the municipality welcomed the opportunity provided by the commission to submit an intervention plan and respond to the findings.
However, the commission had noted the little faith it had in BCM in assisting the commission with its work.
This after the municipality failed to hand over the laboratory reports, sampling records, incident reports and corrective-action records requested by the commission in March and April.
SAHRC provincial manager Dr Eileen Carter said that further courtesy emails were sent to the metro, which again fell on deaf ears.
“This created a material information and accountability gap and prevented the commission from determining whether the severe West Bank conditions had been investigated, contained, corrected and subjected to adequate follow-up monitoring,” Carter said.
The report also criticised the Kouga municipality over wastewater failures affecting Jeffreys Bay and KwaNomzamo, where sewage pollution has impacted rivers, beaches and the ocean.
Kouga municipal spokesperson Monique Basson said the municipality welcomed the report as an opportunity to strengthen accountability, accelerate ongoing improvement programmes and reaffirm its commitment to protecting public health and the environment.
She said the findings were consistent with the municipality’s own monitoring data and reflected challenges that had developed over many years because of ageing infrastructure, environmental conditions, vandalism, population growth and extreme weather events.
“The Jeffreys Bay wastewater treatment facility is currently not operating fully within its licence conditions,” she said.
“A significant contributing factor is the high salinity entering the sewer reticulation network along the coastal areas, where naturally brackish groundwater infiltrates the system.”
The EFF said the report confirmed years of warnings about failing infrastructure.
Provincial secretary Simthembile Madikizela said residents had endured polluted water, failing sanitation systems and environmental degradation for years.
“This is more than a service delivery failure. It is a violation of the dignity, health and rights of residents,” he said.
Madikizela said the EFF had repeatedly raised concerns about the deteriorating West Bank, Peelton and Reeston wastewater treatment works, pollution affecting the Nahoon and Gonubie areas, sewage contamination in Nelson Mandela Bay and failing facilities in Kouga.
He said the party had proposed ring-fencing grant funding for wastewater upgrades and declaring disaster areas where communities were directly affected.
“Unfortunately, these proposals have not received the support necessary to bring about meaningful change.”
DA MPL Vicky Knoetze described the findings against Buffalo City as particularly alarming.
“These problems are neither new nor unforeseen,” she said.
“The DA has consistently called for the repair and upgrading of wastewater treatment works and pump stations, preventative maintenance, backup power, security at critical facilities, regular independent testing, publication of water quality results and consequence management where officials fail to act.”
She said residents could not be assured the risks had been addressed until the municipality produced current testing results, repair records and evidence of remedial action.
Nahoon Estuary Management Forum chair Christo Theart said the report confirmed concerns that had persisted for years.
“The municipality has a case to answer. The West Bank facility has been noncompliant for many years,” he said.
“We are continuing with our court cases to ensure sewage spills into the Nahoon estuary stop and that water quality improves.”
Environmental groups also welcomed the findings.
Kevin Harris of Green Ripple said the report highlighted the impact of the West Bank facility on the marine protected area, but warned that problems also extended to the Nahoon Bulk Outfall line and East Bank treatment works.
Environmentalist Kevin Cole said Buffalo City had a long history of failing wastewater infrastructure.
“The recent report provides hard laboratory evidence and time-bound accountability measures,” he said.
Co-operative governance and traditional affairs spokesperson Mamkeli Ngam said the department could not comment because it had not yet studied the report.
The SAHRC has instructed Buffalo City to submit, within 14 days, an emergency intervention plan for the West Bank Wastewater Treatment Works and to provide all laboratory reports, sampling records, incident reports and corrective action records previously requested by the commission.
Daily Dispatch
