Question NW2751 to the Minister of Water and Sanitation
08 October 2018 - NW2751
Groenewald, Dr PJ to ask the Minister of Water and Sanitation
(1)Whether, with reference to his reply to question 900 on 23 April 2018 regarding the incident on 21 February 2017 at the Kareerand sludge dam near Stilfontein in North West, during which large quantities of sludge were dumped in the Vaal River, his department issued any fines to the company that is responsible for the sludge dam, as was mentioned in his reply; if not, why not; if so, what fines were issued; (2) Whether he will make a statement on the matter?
Reply:
(1) The Department did not issue any fine to the responsible company because the company followed the right procedure as outlined in section 20, “Control of emergency incidents”, sub-section (3) (a) and section 20 sub-section (4) (a-c) of the National Water Act, 1998, (Act 36 of 1998). Further to that, the Department’s Free State Office is closely monitoring the situation to ensure that all preventative and remedial measures outlined by the company in their notification report of 21 February 2017 and the subsequent close out report, dated 19 October 2017, are timeously implemented. Follow up inspections were conducted on the following dates 14 November 2017 and 21 June 2018 which revealed significant progress in both the preventative and remedial actions implemented. Refer to the attached updated progress report in Annexure A.
(2) No statement will be made on the matter.