GMM must use R200m fine to repair infrastructure
Mayor says the money will be spent on upgrading of sanitation systems across GMM.
The Bethal Regional Court fined the Govan Mbeki Municipality (GMM) R200m last week for contravening environmental laws.
Of this amount, R50m was suspended for five years on condition that the municipality is not found guilty of a similar offence. GMM was ordered to use the remaining R150m to fix the pollution problem.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, Monica Nyuswa, said between November 2019 and September 2020, the municipality unlawfully committed an act which caused significant pollution to the environment.
The municipality was found guilty on six counts relating to contravening the National Environmental Management Act of 2002, pollution of water resources, contravention of the National Water Act of 1998, failure to comply with the compliance notice, unauthorised disposal of water and contravention of the act that detrimentally affects water resources. Nyuswa said the state and the municipality entered into a plea and sentence agreement.
“All counts were added together for purposes of sentencing.”
The municipality was ordered to repair all equipment identified by the contractor on or before December 2026 and to install weighbridges to all landfill sites on or before May 30, 2025.
This included the disposal and distribution of effluent and raw and untreated sewage in eMzinoni, the eMbalenhle wastewater treatment plant, Trichardt Spruit, Wela Mlambo, Leandra N17 Pump Station, Waterval Hoek River, Blesbok Spruit, and Groot Spruit.
The Environmental Management Inspectorate (EMI), popularly known as the Green Scorpions, local environmental organisations and the Human Rights Commission took the municipality to court for water contamination last year.
The Green Scorpions investigated the sewage and general waste problems around the municipal jurisdiction.
They obtained enough evidence of water pollution by the municipality and built a strong case against the municipality, such as significant pollution to the environment, interfering with waterworks, pollution of water resources, an act that detrimentally affects a watercourse, and failure to comply with compliance notices.
The municipality’s executive mayor, Nhlakanipho Zuma, spoke to the media at a press briefing held in the council chambers in Secunda.
He welcomed the verdict and said the municipality would fully abide by it. Zuma said GMM will implement the court findings against the institution.
“We were found not complying with certain environmental laws, and have been releasing raw sewage into the rivers across our municipality.”
Zuma admitted that it was a hefty fine, but the money will be spent on upgrading of sanitation systems across GMM.
“Some of the areas identified by the court are areas where we have already begun implementing solutions. There are also incomplete projects such as the bulk sewer line and pump station project in eMbalenhle Ext 5 where we terminated a contract with the contractor that was appointed.
“We have appointed the Gert Sibande District Municipality as the implementing agent after the contract was terminated with the appointed service provider,” said Zuma.
