eThekwini Cuttings Beach pollution

South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) coordinator Desmond D’SA inspected the untreated effluent pollution that is washing onto Cuttings Beach. Photograph: SDCEA

eThekwini Municipality is KwaZulu-Natal’s biggest polluter

eThekwini Municipality has received almost half of the environmental compliance notices and directives issued under environmental legislation.

eThekwini Cuttings Beach pollution

South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) coordinator Desmond D’SA inspected the untreated effluent pollution that is washing onto Cuttings Beach. Photograph: SDCEA

eThekwini Municipality is allegedly the biggest polluter in the province according to answers to questions the Democratic Alliance (DA) posed in the KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Legislature recently.

This comes as Durban Harbour is again awash with raw sewage,

Heinz de Boer, Member of the Provincial Legislature and DA KZN Spokesperson on Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA) said on Monday that according to a reply the party had received in provincial legislature eThekwini Municipality had received the most compliance notices from the government.

“According to the reply from KZN Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs MEC, Ravi Pillay, of the 34 compliance notices and directives issued under the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) eThekwini has received 12 warnings.  All 12 relate to crumbling municipal infrastructure.” de Boer said.

Economic Development Tourism and Environmental Affairs (EDTEA) officials noted in the written reply that: “The majority of these S28 notices were in relation to sewer spillages resulting from malfunctioning of sewer pump stations.”

The list of offenders includes ongoing issues at the Blackburn Pump Station, Paradise Vally Sewage, Isipingo River, Umbilo Canal and Umgeni River in eThekwini Municipality.

“While the current political leadership may soon be shown the door, it is too little too late for eThekwini in many respects. Certainly, they have laid waste to the tourism and economic development potential of the city. The Golden Mile, Blue Lagoon, and all major tourism hotspots are contaminated, and put up a lacklustre fight against other tourism offerings, both locally and abroad,” he said.

De Boer said that KZN was a province with tourism and massive job creation potential that remained undeveloped. 

“Quite how the managers of defaulting municipal departments keep their jobs is beyond comprehension. Poor municipal management can no longer be allowed to ruin the lives of so many who are languishing under a blanket of unemployment,” he said.

He said the DA would continue to push for errant officials to be criminally prosecuted in eThekwini.

“It is unacceptable that MEC Pillay and KZN’s EDTEA portfolio committee remain toothless in this battle. Now is the time for them to flex their political muscle and bring the full might of the law against city Managers,” he said.