Matjhabeng mayor explains why sewage has taken over the streets of Welkom

The mayor of Matjhabeng Local Municipality, Thanduxolo Khalipha, says he is aware that the municipality is experiencing a sewage spillage crisis.

He recently spoke to The Citizen in a sit-down interview about the challenges Matjhabeng is facing. Khalipha has been the sitting mayor for the last five years.

Matjhabeng Local Municipality services the primary town of Welkom and five surrounding towns.

A typical drive around this municipality will expose you to raw sewage in the townships and even in the central business district of the municipality.

Sewage spillages

The situation is so bad that one school in the area cannot use its sports grounds because they have been swamped with raw sewage.

Khalipha said that in his first few months as mayor, he declared the municipality a disaster area because of ongoing sewage spillages. He said he informed both the national and provincial governments about the municipality’s poor state.

He said an independent assessment of the state of the municipality found that 54 out of 57 pump stations linked to the critical sewer infrastructure had been destroyed.

“Out of 13 sewer treatment plants, 11 of those treatment plants were destroyed,” he said.

Khalipha said that since the national government intervened, 22 of the much-needed pump stations have been fixed and returned to the municipality.

Khalipha said the municipality projects that sewage spillages will be fully eradicated in 2028.

“This intervention is dealing with three interventions; it’s dealing with your sewer treatment plant, pump station and your sewer line,” he said.

Khalipha said residents find themselves with sewage on the streets because work is being done on live sewer pipes.

“There is also a challenge of some contractors who have not been performing well, but the department and Vaal Central are intervening in some of those things. Some of the contractors are not meeting their timelines; some of them the department has acted [on], some of them have gone to court, but that is a legal matter, which is managed by Vaal Central as an implementing agent,” he said.

Khalipha said the intervention to fix Matjhabeng’s sewer infrastructure will cost the taxpayer more than R4 billion. This is more than the municipality’s annual budget.

Waste collection

Khalipha said another problem he found when he got into the mayoral chair was that the municipality did not have enough waste removal trucks.

“We bought more than 28 more trucks, we fixed another six, so we have more than 40 trucks,” he said.

Khalipha said the municipality’s management should ensure waste is collected regularly because the resources are there.

“Supervision, they need to make sure that people do their work and they must educate our people to make sure that when rubbish is removed, they do not dump again,” he said.

Debt and rate collection

Khalipha said another challenge he faced when he became mayor was that the municipality owes its power supplier, Eskom, and Vaal Central, which supplies water.

“We are owing a lot of money; these are legacy challenges.

“There is a plan; we have now entered into a payment plan with Vaal Central. We are paying them at least R30 million a month.”

He said another way that the municipality wants to service its debt is through installing smart meters for residents so that they can pay what they consume in water and electricity.

Water infrastructure

He said the municipality conducted a study showing it loses 49% of its clean water through leaks. He blamed this on ageing infrastructure.

“We did not invest [in] the infrastructure of Matjhabeng,” he said.

Khalipha said the municipality needs more than R2 billion to replace old water infrastructure.

He said that in the next five years, the municipality will replace its old water infrastructure.