By Tjaart van der Walt | DA Councillor Mangaung Metro Municipality
Note to editors: Please find attached English and Afrikaans soundbites by Cllr Tjaart van der Walt and Sesotho soundbite by Cllr Kabelo Mooreng. Please see the pictures here, here, here, and here.
The DA has formally written to the Head of Department and Municipal Manager, again demanding urgent intervention to halt the environmental and health disaster caused by the continued neglect of Bloemspruit Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW) and its chemical laboratory. If these failures persist, we will pursue criminal charges under the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA).
This comes after the DA conducted a follow-up oversight visit to the site on Tuesday, 4 February 2025, in Mangaung’s largest sewage facility.
Since our 2023 visit, the plant has deteriorated further into operational collapse. Critical infrastructure failures, non-functional laboratories, and untreated effluent now pose severe risks to public health and the environment. Despite high-profile visits by the Executive Mayor and Mayoral Committee in mid-2024, no tangible solutions have been implemented.
Instead, the facility has worsened since our October 2023 oversight inspection—raising serious concerns about the whereabouts of the R70 million allocated for WWTW refurbishment at that time.
The plant’s chemical laboratory, essential for monitoring freshwater sources, reservoir water, and treated effluent, has been non-operational since December 2024 due to a severe shortage of reagents and a broken 30-year-old water distiller. A makeshift distiller produces just over a litre of distilled water daily—insufficient for basic testing.
Without proper sample analysis:
- Industrial effluent remains unmonitored, allowing businesses to discharge potentially toxic waste into the sewage system without accountability.
- The inability to issue fines for industrial polluters results in millions in lost revenue.
- Untreated pollutants, including heavy metals like lead and zinc, could contaminate the Modder River, endangering aquatic life and downstream communities.
- Laboratory staff may be exposed to unsafe working conditions, raising occupational health concerns.
Inspections reveal a facility in steady decline, with rusted and broken infrastructure, shattered windows at the pump station, and overgrown vegetation—unchanged since our 2023 visit. The 2023 Green Drop and Auditor-General Reports (covering 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024), tabled in council on 31 January 2025, highlighted severe mismanagement of refurbishment funds, particularly those earmarked for WWTW repairs.
Due to ongoing wastewater treatment failures in Mangaung, discharged water likely fails to meet SANS 241:2015 standards. This exacerbates river pollution, contributing to public health crises, including recent cholera outbreaks.
The DA’s plan for urgent intervention:
- Immediate resourcing of the chemical lab—procuring reagents and modern distillers to restart compliance testing.
- Reallocation of funds in the adjustment budget to prioritise urgent repairs and upgrades for Mangaung’s decaying wastewater and water infrastructure.
- Escalation to the Department of Water and Sanitation—DA representatives in the Free State Provincial Legislature will formally raise concerns, referencing the Human Rights Commission Report (following a DA complaint) and the Green Drop Report directives.
- Transparency and accountability—Mangaung must publish real-time effluent and water quality data to ensure public oversight and accountability.
We will continue exposing the dangers posed by the ANC-run Mangaung administration’s failure to maintain and upgrade critical infrastructure.
The DA is ready to rescue Mangaung in the 2026 local government elections, a goal becoming increasingly achievable as the ANC prioritises mismanagement over good governance.