Deputy Water and Sanitation Minister applauds work done to tackle sewage spills in Lekwa Municipality

JOHANNESBURG Water and Sanitation Deputy Minister David Mahlobo has commended the strides made in tackling long-standing sewer spillage and water quality issues within the Lekwa Municipality in Mpumalanga.

Mahlobo, alongside other water and sanitation officials, handed over the recently completed sanitation projects to the mayor, Sifiso Mngomezulu.

Lekwa Municipality has long battled significant failures in its water and sanitation system — leading to widespread sewer spillages, posing health and safety risks to communities.

Last year, the Standerton Regional Court highlighted the severity of the environmental damage by imposing a substantial R70 million fine on the municipality

Mahlobo says the department is looking to bring the system into functionality by October this year.

"On our intervention as a department, in the main, this area was filthy. The sewage was running into people's homes in the street, into public facilities, and worse, they were polluting the Vaal River system that ends up actually polluting Gauteng, Free State, Northern Cape up to Namibia and that intervention has yielded results."