REPORT OF
THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON WATER AND SANITATION OVERSIGHT VISIT TO THE MADIBENG
LOCAL MUNICIPALITY, NORTH WEST PROVINCE, DATED 12 NOVEMBER 2014
This report serves to provide an account of
the oversight visit conducted by the Portfolio Committee on Water and
Sanitation (hereinafter the Portfolio Committee) to the Madibeng
Local Municipality, North West, 23 September 2014.
1. Introduction
During the Portfolio Committee’s engagement
of the budget vote of the Department of Water and Sanitation (hereinafter the
Department), concerns were raised not only around budgetary aspects relating to
programme outcomes, but also the manner in which budgets translated to
addressing issues (such as pollution, raw sewerage contamination, local water
supply and quality, vandalism and theft of water and sanitation infrastructure)
that impacted on quality service delivery of water and sanitation services
to the citizens of South Africa. The Portfolio Committee, during its
deliberations on the matters raised above, noted that the magnitude and extent
of the problem was a country-wide concern, and an intervention in the form of a
particular site visit as a case study should be undertaken to assess the
challenges and resultant impacts on affected communities. A proposal was put forward by the Portfolio
Committee that the case study using the state of water and sanitation services
in the Madibeng Local Municipality, North West, should
form the basis of its findings. The Portfolio Committee argued that this first
visit should be strongly underpinned by ongoing site visits to the area in the
future to ascertain progress and assess the long-term sustainable solutions
required to address the issues.
The Portfolio Committee thereafter made its
determinations as to the specific projects that it would visit during this
period, and undertook visits to the following sites – Rietfontein
Waste Water Treatment Plant, water contamination at Xanadu
Estate and Mothutlung Waste Water Treatment Works.
The delegation comprised the following
members and staff:
Members:
Mr M Johnson (ANC) (Chairperson); Ms J
Maluleke (ANC); Mr D Mnguni (ANC); Mr T Makondo
(ANC); Ms Bilankulu (ANC); Ms H Kekana (ANC); Mr L Basson (DA); Ms Balindlela (DA); Ms Khawula
(EFF); Mr MP Galo (AIC).
Staff
Mrs M Solomons (Committee Secretary); Ms S Dawood (Content Advisor); Mr T Manungufala
(Committee Researcher); Ms Z Kula (Committee Assistant); Mr S Sithole (Language
Practitioner); Mr G.Ntshane (Language Practitioner).
2.
BACKGROUND
Overview
of the Madibeng Local Municipality
The Madibeng Local Municipality is located in the Bojanala
Platinum District Municipality within the North West province between the
majestic ancient Magaliesberg and the Witwatersrand
mountain range. Madibeng means ‘the place of water’. The
Municipality is demarcated into 31 wards of which 10 fall in the urban areas
(Brits, Hartbeespoort and Skeerpoort),
and 21 in the rural areas and villages. It includes approximately 43 villages
and 9 000 farm areas. Madibeng is centrally situated
(approximately 50 km from Pretoria, 55 km from Johannesburg and 60 km from
Rustenburg) and is easily accessible via various road networks, amongst others,
the N4 toll road, which runs from various directions through Madibeng to Mmabatho, as well as
a railway line and airport for light aircraft.
The Municipality has
a total population of 477 381, making it the second most populous Municipality
in the Bojanala District Municipality after Rustenburg. It is highly rural,
with 57 per cent of its population residing in rural areas (tribal or
traditional areas), about 28 per cent residing in urban areas and about 15 per
cent residing in farming areas. Black Africans are the majority, with an 89 per
cent share of the Madibeng Municipality’s population.
. The most commonly spoken language is Setswana. More than half of the
population is male (53 per cent) and 47 per cent constitutes females. At age 85
and older, there are more than twice as many women as men. People under 20
years of age make up over a quarter of the population (33.5 per cent), and
people aged 65 and older make up 5 per cent of the population. It has about 160
724 households and the population’s electricity access is quite high, at 81 per
cent overall.
Access to
water
More than 80 per
cent of the households have access to water, either bulk, full, intermediate,
informal intermediate or basic supply, and more than 50 per cent of the
population has no access to basic sanitation. Water is supplied from the Harteespoort Dam and Crocodile River. In the rural areas,
borehole water is used. The southern part of the Municipality is connected to
the Magalies water systems through metered bulk
connections feeding the various water distribution zones via service reservoirs.
The water supply in the Municipality is serviced
by two main Water Treatment Works in Brits and Schoemansville.
The Brits water scheme covers a vast number of areas with high growth patterns
and is constrained by plant conditions and raw water quality. There are
different water supply schemes and Water Services Providers (Water Boards) to
augment water supply in the Municipality.
Madibeng is
categorised as a category B Municipality, functioning through the Executive
Mayoral System, it has an annual budget of R1.6 billion servicing a population
size of 477, 381. The Municipality is both a Water Service Authority and Water
Service Provider and has responsibilities as mandated by the National Water Act
(36 of 1998). As both a water service provider as well as a water service
authority, the Municipality is responsible for the supply of portable water,
collection, treatment and disposal of waterborne sewage within its area of
jurisdiction in a manner that is sustainable, hygienic, environmentally and
socially acceptable
The water supply schemes implemented by the
Municipality are as follows: Brits Water Scheme; Hartebeespoort
Water Scheme; North East ODI1 Scheme; West ODI1 Scheme; Hartebeespoort
South and Ward Scheme Boreholes. The initiatives implemented to boost the water
supply and quality in the Municipal area of supply include: Brits Water
Purification Plant refurbishment and extension; Brits Water Treatment Plant
refurbishment; Water quality with Blue Drop accreditations; Reuse Sewer
Effluent; Water supply shortages Emergency Business Plan; Non revenue water or
unaccounted for water; Water supply augmentation (Drilling of boreholes); Water
Supply: Refurbishment of pumps at Centreville and surrounding areas;
Underground water exploration (drilling of boreholes); water shedding and leak
repairs.
Challenges in water service delivery
There have been a number of community
protests because of service delivery challenges due to failure or collapse of
infrastructure. The Municipality has inherited old and outdated infrastructure,
systems. The bulk supplies capacities are at the helm of majority challenges
experienced in the Municipality. The overarching challenges are in the main,
inadequate bulk supplies and availability, poor raw water quality, rapid
development and urbanisation, old and outdated infrastructure, mushrooming of
informal settlements, land invasions, funding, skills gap and limited tools of
trade.
In respect of the water and sanitation
service delivery challenges, the Municipality has undertaken the following
alternative and contingent measures: supplying water to communities with trucks;
supply of portable Jojo tanks placed at strategic
locations; and optimization of technical and mechanical processes in the plant.
3. Findings OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
The Portfolio Committee undertook site visits
to the Rietfontein Waste Water Treatment Plant, Xanadu Estate and Mothotlung
Wastewater Treatment Works.
3.1 Rietfontein Waste Water Treatment Plant
3.1.1
Overview of Operations at the Rietfontein Plant
As a Water Services Authority, the Madibeng Local Municipality is responsible for the
operation and maintenance at the Rietfontein Waste
Water Treatment Works, located at Hartebeespoort. Rietfontein discharges wastewater into the Swartspruit, which is a smaller stream flowing into the
Crocodile River upstream of the Hartebeespoort Dam.
The spillage of raw sewerage of partially treated sewerage has been reported
since 2010. The spillage at Rietfontein is due to
poor operations and maintenance of pump stations. Not all the 13 pump stations
around the Hartebeespoort Dam is
fully operational, causing major spillages at various pump stations,
manholes and pipelines running close to the dam. The influent to Rietfontein is pumped to the head of the works with no
gravity flow. Two pumped water mains flow into Rietfontein
from the Xanadu and Ifafi
pump stations, which receive sewerage from a number of smaller pump stations
upstream. The pump stations have recently been refurbished by the Department of
Water and Sanitation, but have not formally been handed over to the Municipality.
3.1.2
Challenges faced by the Municipality
3.1.2.1
Sewage spillages at the Rietfontein Plant
One of the challenges faced by the
Municipality is the delayed handover of pump stations by the Department. Another issue which contributes to spillage
of waste water is that pump stations were vandalised, which in turn weakened
operational systems. This creates uncertainty regarding the responsibility for
their operation and maintenance. A flow balancing facility will be constructed
by the Municipality just before the inlet works to the plant. The high flow
rate experienced during the "burst" of inflow from the pump stations
will be accumulated and discharged under gravity under a lower rate into the
inlet works. This will minimise further sewerage spillages at the plant.
The Portfolio Committee observed significant
overflow of raw sewerage at the Rietfontein Water
Purification Plant. This impacts negatively on the
surrounding communities. It was reported
that the plant was out of chlorine gas as well, and this is necessary chemicals
to maintain operations at the plant. It was reported that the chlorine gas
chemicals are obtained by the Municipality from manufacturers through
distributers and are used interchangeably throughout the Municipality. The main
chemical manufacturer experienced challenges in the production lines and high
orders and deliveries were delayed as a result.
This prompted the Municipality to implement whatever practical
precautionary means at its disposal to contain and manage the situation. It was
reported that contingent measures were employed with the utilization of both
internal staff and external experts to minimize and eliminate the possible
negative impact. There are challenges with regards to the supply of the chlorine
gas. The overflow at Rietfontein
Water Purification plant, despite the building of trenches to mitigate the
overflow of raw sewerage from the Rietfontein Water
Purification Plant, are still feeding into the Swartspruit,
Crocodile River and Hartebeesport Dam. The sewerage
has contaminated water downstream, resulting in the death of fish population in
dams. The algae build up observed was significant. It was reported that the
unsanitary conditions makes the rivers an ideal breeding ground for the algae. Trenches
were dug around the affected area at Rietfontein to
mitigate the overflow of raw sewerage.
Ongoing vandalism and theft at Riefontein is a major challenge that the Municipality has
yet to find a solution to, and is indicative of an urgent need for the
Municipality to provide security at the plant.
3.1.2.2 Unaccounted-for
Water
It was reported that the Municipality had one
of the highest averages of unaccounted for water. Only 39.4% of the distributed
water is billed, and of that, the Madibeng Local
Municipality only receives revenue for 24.7% of the water billed. There are 25 000
households out of 160 724 households in the Municipality which are not billed,
resulting in an annual loss of revenue of approximately R60 million.
3.1.2.3 Escherichia
coli (E. coli) levels in excess of 1 million per 100ml
Reports that the Ecoli
levels were not compliant with minimum chemical and microbiological standards
were correct. This contamination is as a result of the spillage from Rietfontein. The Municipality reported that challenges
experienced with the suppliers contributed towards this challenge. Although
contingent measures were taken to utilise manual chlorine disinfection, this is
not effective as the on line liquid gas chlorine disinfection system. The
Department noted that test result analysis revealed that there was no Ecoli in the drinking water, and that the water was safe
for consumption, and did not pose any health threats to water consumers. The communities are however, not convinced.
3.2 Brits Waste
Water Treatment Plant
3.2.1 Non-functioning
of Brits Water Treatment Plant and Pumping Station
The Brits Waste Water Treatment Plant is not
functioning optimally due to the inlet works not being operational as a result
of a lack of maintenance. This results in the non-functioning of the primary setting
tank. In the interim, the Municipality is diverting the flow from the inlet
into the reactor. The Department further assessed and noted that this measure
was not sustainable and would ultimately result in non-compliance challenges. The
Municipality reported that the main causes of pump failures were attributed to vandalism,
theft, ageing infrastructure, ingress of foreign objects and outdated
sanitation system designs. It was reported that to date, sixteen
(16) water treatment plants had been refurbished in Brits, as well as
the refurbishment of electromechanical equipment. The Rapid Response Unit of
the Department has been deployed to assist in addressing this challenge. The
Department reported that the combined effects of ageing infrastructure and
maintenance backlog were contributing factors. The major operational and
maintenance shortfalls were caused by a lack of proper maintenance management
system, including the required technical and managerial skills level. The
affected sewer system is quite complex and requires diligent operational and
maintenance inputs as well as refurbishments. The Department has deployed staff
to the Municipality to assist with capacity and training of staff of the Municipality.
The Department recommended that there was an
urgent need for the Municipality to look into sourcing standby pumps, so that
when the existing pumps fail, they do not end up polluting the environment. The
Municipality needed to relook at engineering of the water and sanitation supply
and optimise planning around development infrastructure. The Department further
found that one of the main issues of concern was that the life of existing
infrastructure could not be extended through proper maintenance, as the
Municipality does not have dedicated artisans to address this problem. It was
reported that R5 million was needed to refurbish the existing Brits Water
Sewerage Plant. The Department has instituted an emergency measure, which aims
to address the operational capacity at the plant. The current funding from the
Department was provided on condition that the costs would be recovered by the
Municipality. Further work is needed to reach the required standard of
equipment, which can support the required level of sustainable operation. If
the Municipality cannot raise adequate revenue to fund this project, it delays
service delivery to communities. There were calls from the Department that the
Municipality needed to revise the cost reflectiveness
of their tariffs so as to ascertain the costs for the Municipality to treat the
effluent, and subsequently included it into a tariff charge to the user.
3.3 Water Contamination
at Swartspruit, Crocodile River and Hartebeespoort Dam
Poor water quality from the Hartebeespoort Dam has resulted in high algae bloom. As a
result of the bad quality of effluent from Rietfontein,
fish kills have been reported in the Xanadu Dam, and wetlands directly downstream from the plant. There has been an increase in the algae in
the dams and wetlands at Xanadu and into the
Crocodile River, which is feeding off the contaminated zooplankton. The sewer
plant is fed with two main pump stations, and there is no temporary storage
facility, which can then discharge simultaneously into the plant. Due to plant
capacity and design deficiencies, spillages occur and the temporary arrangement
could not accommodate the extent of the inflows. Plans for refurbishment
include the construction of a buffer facility to curb future spillages.
3.4 Water Service
Challenges in Mothutlung
Recent
service delivery protests in the Mothutlung area are
due to water supply interruptions as a result of the failure of water supply
pumps at the water plant, and the need to undertake urgent repairs. During the service delivery protests in
January 2014, the Mothutlung Water Treatment plant
was vandalised, which resulted in blockages in the sewer network connecting the
Mothutlung which led to seweage
spillages. The repairs at the Mothulung Water Service
Station have been impeded by vandalism and theft which has resulted in delays
in the resumption of services. It was
reported that the Mothotlung Waste Water Treatment
Works discharges directly into the Crocodile River. Whilst Rietfontein
and Brits use advanced technology, Lethlabile and Mothutlung use the old Pond Enhanced Trickling System.
There is one pump station at Mothutlung and the
refurbishment at the treatment plant, is ongoing.
4. Conclusion and Recommendations
Whilst the Portfolio Committee on Water and
Sanitation is highly concerned about the water and sanitation challenges at the
Madibeng Local Municipality, it recognised that the symptomatic
challenges of water and sanitation in the country,
include, amongst others, the following:
·
Vandalism and theft of water and sanitation
infrastructure;
·
Maintenance of infrastructure;
·
Unaccounted-for Water;
·
Further progress and intervention in water
services supply and delivery;
·
Water quality (Contamination of water
resources);
·
Strengthening intergovernmental relations to
address water and sanitation issues;
·
Importance of community participation in
projects to ensure ‘buy in’ funding of water services;
·
Poor Revenue Collection;
·
Poor Leadership; and
·
Lack of Capacity within the Municipality
The Portfolio Committee, during its deliberations
of the findings and assessments of site visits at the Madibeng
Local Municipality, concludes that the above issues require further
interrogation and therefore recommends the following on issues raised above:
·
Vandalism
and theft of water and sanitation infrastructure
The Portfolio Committee noted that vandalism
and theft of water supply infrastructure was not only an increasing problem in
the Madibeng Local Municipality, but was emerging as
a recurrent challenge in the entire country.
This not only impacted on the basic rights of
access to quality water to citizens, but also had negative economic
implications as money intended to build new infrastructure and maintain
existing ones is diverted to replace stolen infrastructure. The Portfolio Committee is of the view that
the problem is a societal one that requires a collaborative effort by everyone
in order to deal effectively with this matter.
The Portfolio Committee also noted that the challenges are further
compounded by metal recycling businesses that continue to buy stolen metals and
cables from the perpetrators of these crimes.
The Portfolio Committee recommended that all institutions, such as the
Department of Water and Sanitation, the South African Police Services,
Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Department of
Justice, Municipalities as well communities collaborate to come up with
effective strategies to deal with the problem in its entirety. The Portfolio Committee, as a way forward, requests
the support of the department and relevant municipalities during the public
hearings on vandalism and theft of water infrastructure in November 2014.
·
Maintenance
of infrastructure
Within Madibeng,
the Portfolio Committee noted and appreciated various infrastructure projects
underway, such as the R63.7 million Wastewater Infrastructure
Refurbishment Project, as well as refurbishment of water supply pumps at
various areas. The Portfolio Committee
noted the few challenges that remained that required further action. The
Portfolio Committee is of the view that while these infrastructure projects are
necessary, the maintenance of the infrastructure remains a challenge, and
requires serious intervention at all levels of implementation. Of importance to the continuing oversight is
the tracking of progress of the upgrade of pump stations at the Rietfontein Sewage Plant, with a commitment made by the Madibeng Local Municipality that this would be resolved
within a three-month deadline. The Portfolio Committee resolved that the
deadline should be adhered to.
·
Further
progress and intervention in water services supply and delivery
The Portfolio Committee noted progress in
terms of water services and the recognition by the Municipality of supplying
water services to communities as a number one priority, which is detailed in
its Integrated Development Plan. The Portfolio Committee urges the provincial
and national department of water and sanitation to ‘ramp’ up their
interventions.
·
Unaccounted-for
water
The Portfolio Committee is further concerned
by information that up to 75 per cent of the municipality’s water is
unaccounted-for due to leakages and unmetered households, while the average for
the country is around 35 per cent.
·
Water
quality
While the Blue Drop score for the
municipality has improved, there needs to be much work in ensuring that the
quality of water provided to the people of the area are of the highest
standards.
·
Strengthening
intergovernmental relations to address water and sanitation issues
A critical point made by the Portfolio
Committee was that in there is a need to address intergovernmental relations to
address water and sanitation issues. Another critical key concept lacking in
South Africa is that of value-based leadership.
·
Importance
of community participation in projects to ensure ‘buy in’
In engaging with members of the community in
Ward 18, in Mothuleng,
the Portfolio Committee noted the challenge of lack of communication between community
members and councillors on issues of demarcation, budget constraints, and the lack
of consultation on integrated development plans, as well as risks and
challenges identified by the community itself. This resulted in ‘resentment and
accusations’ of corruption in the way in which unilateral decisions are made,
which exclude community members from decision-making processes. The Portfolio
Committee requests a progress report on the steps taken by relevant authorities
to improve communication on the above matters to the affected communities.
·
Funding
for water services
The Portfolio Committee noted that there is a
need for improved funding for water services in order to improve water services
delivery.
·
Poor revenue
collection
The Portfolio Committee noted that there is a
need for improvement in collection of revenue from the provided water services.
·
Poor leadership
The Portfolio Committee noted that many
challenges emanated from poor leadership at the local municipality and
recommended that the Department supports the Council in this regard.
·
Lack of capacity
The Portfolio Committee noted that there is a
serious lack of capacity at the municipality in terms of operation and
maintenance of the water services infrastructure. It is therefore recommended
that the Department should in the meantime provide technical assistance to the
municipality.
Report to
be considered.