Save the Vaal Environment has won a major court order against several government officials in South Africa to stop Vaal River sewage pollution.

Development Diaries reports that the order against the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu, his colleague in the Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Barbara Creecy, and other government officials was given by Justice Gregory Wright in the Gauteng High Court.

Wright’s court order describes how the ‘discharge of raw or inadequately treated sewage by the first respondent (Emfuleni local municipality) from its municipal wastewater care and management system into the Rietspruit River and/or the Klip River and/or the Vaal River and/or the Vaal River Catchment Areas’ is in contravention of the National Environmental Management Act (Nema) and National Water Act ‘and must be prevented’.

Reacting to the court order, Save the Vaal Environment Chairperson, Malcolm Plant, said, ‘This is a big win for Save the Vaal after the years of litigation and pressure placed on the authorities’.

The Vaal River is one of the fastest-flowing rivers in South Africa and it is the location of the Vaal Dam, which provides water to Gauteng Province, the centre of South Africa’s economy.

The river has continued to be polluted over time as a result of the catchment area’s aging wastewater treatment system, endangering both this vital resource and the local economy.

In 2021, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), in a report, disclosed that 19 million South Africans relied on the Vaal water system for water security, hence the pollution in the Vaal River affected natural ecosystems and endangered health.

It is understood that the court order requires that Mchunu provides an affidavit in 45 court days stating what has been done to deal with the problem and to attach an action plan with timelines and funding.

Photo source: Sabinanepal