Hon Chairperson, hon member, I am not aware of the money that was allocated in the fourth administration to deal with that problem. The only thing that I am aware of is what is
happening now, in the fifth and the sixth administration where I got closer to the situation. When the defence force was deployed there, money was made available through the Department of Defence and Military Veterans itself. They did the work and they tried to unblock everything and it is better.
I think our soldiers did a very good job there to try and unblock the entire treatment plant that was at standstill. The treatment plant is not working in its full capacity. I can say it is now working more or less at 55%. The problem is that the entire system has blocked and is not bringing sewerage into the treatment plant. They have identified all the pump stations that must pump sewerage in the entire Emfuleni Local Municipality into the system and that has been identified as an urgent step.
In the process, instead of attending to the ageing infrastructure, the municipality was building a new treatment plant. In fact not one treatment plant but two plants adjacent to one another. They could not complete them but the entire system was failing. So, what is happening now is to try and unblock the old system and ensure that it is working because it has been now affecting the Vaal River. Now, beyond that we must open the two new treatment plants so that we can ease the pressure in the entire system. So, yes, I am not aware if
the money was given to this municipality before. I was not really impressed about the management of things in the municipality and I am sure the province will do its best to try and get the municipality to attend to its responsibility.
The Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs together with the Department of Human Settlements and Water Sanitation will pull with the municipality to ensure that this project is finished on time. We are going to take another visit early next year to ensure that all the things we have agreed upon have been done. Consistently, we are going to give this House feedback on progress because it is important. The pollution of that river affects the entire the Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Free State and a lot of people. It is a problem that we must attend. [Applause.]