Speaker, yesterday I laid a criminal charge against the Municipal Manager and the Director: Infrastructural Services of the Ndlambe Municipality in the Eastern Cape.
The charge was laid at the Port Alfred police station and was laid in terms of section 151 of the National Water Act Act 36 of 1998. This section criminalises an intentional or negligent act or omission which pollutes, or is likely to pollute, a water resource or which detrimentally affects or is likely to affect a water resource.
For approximately the past five years, the sewerage treatment works in Port Alfred have been discharging partially treated or untreated sewage into the Kowie River. Despite repeated calls by local residents and by DA councillors, little has been done to rectify the situation.
Sadly, the conditions at this sewerage treatment works mirror those found at more than 50% of the works across South Africa. Similarly, the resultant pollution of the Kowie River is mirrored in many rivers across the country.
The continual neglect by officials of their duty to prevent pollution of the Kowie River is not only criminal; it is also ethically unacceptable as it affects vulnerable groups who draw water from the river, and affects recreational opportunities for the town's inhabitants, not to mention tourism businesses.
The DA does not lay criminal charges as a matter of course. This is a measure of last resort. Similar charges have been laid against many municipalities in several provinces by DA public representatives and by residents who have found that their pleas to their municipalities for action have fallen on deaf ears.
The right to a clean environment enjoys constitutional protection. The DA will do all that it can to ensure that this protection is realised for all South Africans. [Applause.]