AfriForum serves court documents against Ngwathe Municipality regarding contaminated drinking water
AfriForum yesterday served court documents against the Ngwathe Local Municipality regarding the ongoing dire state of the drinking water in Parys. A series of three separate laboratory tests, the first of which was conducted by the pressure group, Save Ngwathe, and two follow-up tests by AfriForum, show very clearly that the drinking water is contaminated with E.Coli and therefore contains raw sewage and is not suitable for human consumption.
The tests were taken representatively in Tumahole and in the CBD. It is worrying that many people in Parys also suffer from stomach ailments. After the first tests, AfriForum gave the municipality 24 hours to intervene in the condition of the drinking water, which did not happen. The results of the tests were denied by the municipality. AfriForum asked for the results of their tests before the end of the day on 12 September. No results have been received to date and the water was still found unfit for human consumption after the third test on 19 September.
This state of affairs has forced AfriForum to turn to the court and ask that the court declare that the water currently supplied by the municipality does not meet the standards for potable water. AfriForum asks that the municipality immediately provide potable water that complies with the South African National Standards (No. 241:2015). They must also, within 15 days from the court order, implement the recommendations of dr. Marlene van der Merwe-Botha, a water specialist, that was compiled within a report sent to the municipality. They must then also give feedback to the court about the steps they have taken to meet the standard. The matter will be heard in the High Court in Bloemfontein on 30 September.
“These dire circumstances in Parys underlines the incompetence of the municipality to provide basic services to faithful taxpayers. It is really sad that a municipality that is unable to provide clean water to the community still refuses all help offered to them. Having clean drinking water is a basic constitutional right and something that is a municipality’s responsibility to offer to the community. This absolutely shows that the Ngwathe Municipality’s priorities are not in order. In addition, the condition of the drinking water has serious health consequences for the community,” says Alta Pretorius, AfriForum’s District Coordinator for Mooirivier.
“AfriForum will continue to put pressure on the municipality and do everything in our power to ensure that Parys will have clean drinking water again. In the meantime, we want to remind members of the Parys-community to boil the water before drinking it,” concludes Pretorius.
