Suzan Chala
Vereeniging residents are facing possible health hazards, including cholera, owing to the spillage of raw sewage material into rivers in the area.
Sewage pumps in the town have been breaking from time to time over the past three years, spilling raw sewage into the Suikerbos, Klip and Vaal rivers. The rivers serve as a primary source of water to people who live in the informal settlements in Vereeniging.
“They drink water from these rivers,” says Peter Hoge of the Rand Water Board.
Also affected are fishermen who depend on fishing as their source of income. Poulos Matshaneng (38) and Oupa Taunyane (41), both family men and breadwinners, could not work for 10 days because of the bad smell and “faeces that was all over the water. We moved from that point [where the sewage pipes lead into the river] but it was the same, the smell was unbearable,” says Matshaneng.
The Rand Water Board has unsuccessfully tried to stop the spillage. “We have informed all the relevant government departments at all levels many times,” says Hoge, saying that the board had stopped testing the water in the rivers. “What we do now is educate the public about the dangers of drinking this water.”
Emfuleni Town Council representative Prince Hanca says the spillage was minor and that “the situation is now under control”, but Vereeniging residents do not agree. One woman asked: “Are you going to that place where there’s lots of faeces?”
Schoolchildren in brown and grey uniform pointed out four different points where the spillage occurred.
The council denied allegations by the board that the bacterial count in the rivers exceeds the legal limit, saying, “This area is does not fall under their [Rand Water Board] jurisdiction”. According to Hanca, the situation is being “blown out of proportion”.
On Tuesday the spillage was still visible. Parts of the lawn at the river front were covered with raw sewage from faeces to used toilet paper and condoms. The grass was covered with a white layer and soaking wet.
According to people who live nearby this was “nothing, it can get really bad here the place smells like a bucket toilet”, says Matshaneng.
The river front in Vereeniging is a recreational facility with a golf course, picnic spots and restaurants. It is the premier watersport recreational area in Gauteng.
The national Department of Water Affairs and Forestry says it relies on local authorities to address water pollution. The department is implementing a water services and integrated development planning process, which has a legal requirement for local authorities to develop plans and report on issues such as pollution.
These processes are being implemented in the Vereeniging area and local government has to report on its progress to national government and consumers.
“The department is addressing the issues in Vereeniging. The challenge is, however, to get the polluters to accept responsibility and to perform,” a representative says.
@Bredell squatters challenge evictions
Evidence wa ka Ngobeni and Nawaal Deane
Lawyers for the Bredell squatters are asking the Pretoria High Court to set aside the eviction order granted three weeks ago, on the grounds that the company that applied for the order is not the legal owner of the land.
They are arguing that Groengras Eiendomme may have misled and presented false documentation to the court. Groengras applied for the eviction of the Bredell squatters in partnership with the government. Parastatals Eskom and Transnet were also party to the eviction order application.
The lawyers claim that most of the land from which the Bredell squatters were evicted belongs to private owners. But Groengras is not the owner of privately owned land that was illegally occupied by squatters.
The lawyers have a title deed to the land, which proves that the Cotsworld Development Trust owns it.
The title deed shows that the land was sold to the Cotsworld Development Trust in 1998. The lawyers say the trust may have bought 75ha from Groengras for R1, 3-million.
In terms of the Prevention of Illegal Eviction From and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act only an “owner” or “person in charge” is allowed to apply for the eviction of illegal occupants.
Groengras presented a title deed to the Pretoria High Court three weeks ago claiming it is the legitimate owner of the portion of the Elandsfontein farm from which the squatters were evicted. But lawyers will argue that the title deed presented by Groengras is false.
The lawyers argue that Eskom and Transnet also had no legal standing to evict squatters on the land on the grounds that the squatters were trespassing, because the squatters were occupying only a portion of the privately owned land.
Transnet owns the portion of land on which a railway line and service road is situated. The squatters would have made use of the road, but did not occupy it, their lawyers argue.
Earlier this month thousands of squatters flocked to Bredell, near Kempton Park, after hearing rumours that the Pan Africanist Congress was selling land for R25.
The squatters were given 48 hours to vacate the land after the Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs intervened and filed a joint urgent application.
According to the Prevention of Illegal Eviction From and Unlawful Occupation of Land Act, the squatters have a right to appeal against the eviction order.
Their lawyers are seeking to convince to court that the eviction was illegal and unconstitutional.
The lawyers claim that the government was aware that there were about 150 squatters at Bredell since 1995 and signed an agreement with the squatters saying they would be relocated to an agricultural village.
Last week the Mail & Guardian reported that the Ekurhuleni Metro Council, formerly the Benoni City Council, has been illegally evicting squatters in Bredell for the past five years.
The council denies this despite proof that a company was paid to evict the squatters in the past. The company, ACME Training, confirms that in May alone it evicted Bredell squatters three times, at a cost of R390 for each shack demolished.
Land invasions are ‘inevitable’,
@Is Marais’ ticket up?
The DA has appointed Willem Heath to head an investigation into fraud at the Cape Town city council
Barry Streek
The political future of the Democratic Alliance’s populist mayor of Cape Town, Peter Marais, is on the line after the party’s leadership intervened to investigate fraud allegations that followed the city’s attempt to rename streets after former presidents Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk.
Marais has emphatically denied knowledge about the allegations that two senior council officials the mayor’s long-time confidant and spokesperson, Johan Smit, and the acting head of its legal services division, Ben Kieser manufactured petitions and letters of support for the renaming of Adderley and Wale streets.
Few, if anyone, in the DA believe these officials would have acted on their own.
The council’s legal adviser, Victoria Johnson, said in an affidavit made public at a DA press conference this week that she reported verbally on her concerns to the city’s acting municipal manager, Stewart Fisher, on June 1 and then in writing on June 4, five days before the allegations were first exposed in the Mail & Guardian (“DA in fake vote fraud”, June 8).
Smit and Kieser continued in office without suspension even though a commission of inquiry into the allegations, headed by advocate Joe van der Westhuizen, was appointed by Marais. Smit was still in office this week even though the DA leadership called for his and Kieser’s suspension.
Marais claimed in a speech to the Cape Town Press Club on May 24 that there was overwhelming support among the public for the renaming of the streets, with letters of support outnumbering the objections by a margin of 2,5 to 1.
According to Johnson, by May 4 there were 562 letters of objection and 491 letters of support. A further 482 faxes and letters arrived on May 21. Johnson had serious reservations about their authenticity.
When Marais first announced his proposal to rename the streets he seriously ruffled DA feathers because he did so without consultation with his party, let alone his council.
It is unlikely that any action will be taken by the DA against any of its members or officials until the Van der Westhuizen commission and the new commission announced by the party to be headed by former judge Willem Heath have completed their investigations.
Chairperson of the DA’s national management committee James Selfe and the head of the internal party commission, Colin Eglin, said any party disciplinary action would only be taken on the basis of forensic findings by the two commissions.
The Heath commission was appointed by Western Cape MEC for Local Government Pierre Uys in terms of the Municipal Systems Act and will have subpoena powers.
However, there have already been political repercussions and they are all likely to affect Marais’s future in the DA.
The mercurial mayor, who took office in December last year, has proved to be a competent city leader but at times has acted like a loose canon.
Party insiders say that Cape Town is the best run metropolitan council in South Africa and Marais has successfully instituted sound management structures through a complex process of unifying seven former councils. It was the first city to deliver free water and free electricity to poor residents.
Last week Marais demonstrated his leadership skills when he defused a land invasion crisis by setting up a joint committee with squatter representatives with the support of the ANC representatives involved.
Yet, on other occasions, he cannot help putting his foot into it. As one DA parliamentarian put it: “He is like a Scud missile. When he is on target, he is spot on. But he is not always on target.”
United Democratic Movement president Bantu Holomisa has called for the immediate suspension of Marais pending the outcome of the Heath commission.
“The UDM is adamant that political responsibility in a democracy requires this. People such as Smit, Kieser and other names, which have been mentioned on the grapevine, are not operating in vacuums. They work for a politician.
“The DA should now be true to their own criticism towards the ANC. Marais should take political responsibility by vacating his office until the investigation is completed.”
Holomisa said the African National Congress had been very outspoken on Marais, but they should do everyone a favour “and stop whining until they have suspended from their ranks the likes of Tony Yengeni”.
@City official implicates superiors in vote rigging
Marianne Merten
Doubt has been cast on the correctness of publicising a damning affidavit by a Cape Town city council employee, which implicates her superiors in rigging the public submissions on renaming two Cape Town streets.
City legal adviser Victoria Johnson told the Mail & Guardian she was “extremely stressed” about the fact that her sworn statement was made public by the Democratic Alliance on Wednesday.
“I prepared my affidavit for the sole purpose of submitting it to the commission headed by advocate [Joe] van der Westhuizen. I did not authorise the publication of my affidavit,” Johnson said.
She handed her original affidavit to Van der Westhuizen on Thursday morning as arranged.
Johnson had alerted Van der Westhuizen to her statement on Monday. After agonising over speaking out against senior council officials, she insisted on first consulting the city manager about what protection she could expect.
But by Tuesday afternoon her statement was handed to DA leader Tony Leon and was discussed at an evening meeting of national and provincial party bosses.
Leon’s representative, Anthony Hazell, maintained the affidavit had been released “with her authority” and denied the party had jumped the gun on inquiries already under way.
Van der Westhuizen declined to comment on the latest twists in the fraud probe.
Although no one arrived at Monday’s public hearing, Van der Westhuizen had already started interviewing senior council staff, including Cape Town mayor Peter Marais’s spokesperson, Johan Smit.
His interviews with council employees and politicians were expected to be completed next week. A report containing recommendations on possible steps against anyone found implicated in the fraud was to have followed within two weeks.
The findings would have been submitted to the city manager for action because he had the authority to discipline any employee or councillors.
Western Cape MEC for Local Government Pierre Uys confirmed that corruption buster Willem Heath had agreed to lead the provincial inquiry. It is expected to get under way next week.
Uys explained he was obliged to act under Section 106 of the Municipal Systems Act because following the disclosure of the Johnson affidavit he had reason to believe there had been maladministration and corruption.
Asked whether such concerns did not exist following the M&G’s report on the forged petitions at the beginning of June, he said no.
Uys said Van der Westhuizen’s findings and the DA’s internal inquiry would form part of the Heath probe. Although the party probe earlier this week said it would await Van der Westhuizen’s report, it was now expected to act on the basis of the affidavit.
A Cape Town city council committee established at the end of May to evaluate the more than 1 330 submissions on the street renaming and advise the city leaders on public sentiments has declined to deal with the fraud. Instead, it has submitted suspect documents to Van der Westhuizen.
“Clearly some of the lists are falsified and worthless as documents on which any council can rely,” Van der Westhuizen said earlier this week.