SOWETAN SAYS | National intervention urgent as Emfuleni drowns in sewage

Palm Springs, Evaton and Small Farms are drowning – not in rain but in raw sewage. This is no natural disaster. It is the result of state failure.

Emfuleni’s sewerage infrastructure has collapsed, and for years forced residents to live in squalor as raw sewage floods the streets, homes and rivers with untreated human waste. The Vaal River itself is being poisoned.

Children have to walk to school through streets transformed into rivers of raw sewage, and residents are forced to normalise living in appalling conditions, with the threat of life-threatening diseases.

This is the reality for thousands living under the shadow of municipal neglect. This is more than poor service delivery. It is a violation of constitutional rights to health, dignity, and a clean environment.

This is not a new problem.

In 2021, the SA Human Rights Commission declared this a gross human rights violation and warned of severe environmental and public health consequences if the situation continued unchecked.

Legal pressure has also done little to improve conditions. In November 2024, the Johannesburg high court issued an interdict against the municipality, ordering it to halt raw sewage overflow in parts of Sebokeng. The court demanded immediate repairs within 48 hours and required all new blockages to be resolved within five days of being reported.

But still, residents continue to suffer.

Added to this, R3.3bn worth of clean water has been lost due to leaks and infrastructural collapse. Tens of millions of rand have been spent to remedy the situation, yet the streets still reek. Where is the accountability? Where are the results?

Local and provincial government interventions have failed. Bureaucracy, tenders, and empty promises cannot clean the filth from people’s homes.

What’s needed now is immediate national intervention. Not another plan. The right to a clean and healthy environment is not a luxury; it is a fundamental necessity.

The fact that residents are developing skin infections and facing the threat of cholera and typhoid fever is a direct consequence of systemic failure. The Council for the Built Environment is correct: this situation demands urgent national attention and must be treated as a national environmental emergency.

This is no longer a crisis that can be managed with statements. It demands urgent, visible action. The people of Emfuleni have waited long enough.

They deserve clean streets, safe homes, and the assurance that their basic human rights will be protected.

The long-term consequences of this neglect are catastrophic. Environmental damage, a public health crisis, and the erosion of trust in public institutions are all inevitable if immediate action is not taken.

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