By Chris Steyn
A coalition of 29 Pietermaritzburg-based civil society organisations has launched a petition for action to safeguard the health of the community and save the city’s economy from the impact of poor service delivery.
The civic organisations formed the uMsunduzi River Crisis Committee last year (2023) to fight the deteriorating state of the river and Pietermaritzburg in general.
David Still, the Chairman of the Duzi-uMngeni Conservation Trust, says: “We hope that our petition will draw enough support to persuade the South African Human Rights Commission to assist us to take legal action, if necessary, to motivate the responsible authorities to give the necessary priority to the management of waste of all kinds in Pietermaritzburg.”
Still, a professional civil engineer who is a specialist in water, sanitation, and environmental engineering, adds: “We wrote to the Department of Water and Sanitation about the state of the uMsunduzi in September last year but received no response. This was disappointing, but not surprising.
“We then escalated the matter to the South African Human Rights Commission. Clause 24 of our Constitution states that ‘Everyone has the right to an environment which is not harmful to their health or well-being’. This implies that the responsible authorities have to do everything reasonably within their power to keep our environments healthy.”
The petition is headlined: STOP SEWAGE SPILLS, COLLECT SOLID WASTE – CLEAN UP PIETERMARTIZBURG
The petition, to the Department of Water and Sanitation, the Msunduzi Municipality, and the South African Human Rights Commission, reads:
“We, the undersigned, wish to express our concern that the Msunduzi Municipality is failing to manage the solid waste and the sewage waste of the greater Pietermaritzburg community, and has been failing to do so for many years. The evidence that gives rise to our concerns includes:
“Increasing levels of E. coli bacteria in our rivers and streams. The median level of E. coli in our rivers and streams has increased ten-fold since 2010. This conclusion is based on the very comprehensive weekly monitoring of the uMsunduzi River and its tributaries which has been carried out by uMngeni-uThukela Water since 1990. We know of a number of major sewage spills which have run for months and even years without being attended to.
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“Increasing amounts of rubbish on our streets and in our public spaces. We are embarrassed at the state of our city and its surrounds, which has become increasingly squalid. Several parts of our town do not have a functioning waste management service, and informal dumpsites abound.
“If we allow this situation to continue unchecked, the health of our community will suffer and our city’s economy will be badly impacted, causing job losses.
“We request that the responsible authorities take urgent and appropriate action to turn this unacceptable situation around.”
Follow this link to the petition:
https://www.change.org/p/stop-sewage-spills-collect-solid-waste-clean-up-pietermaritzburg
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