Zoutpansberger 08 Maart 2013

Page 1

Zoutpansberger

8 Maart 2013

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Non-payment sparks strike on State farm - page 2

Jaargang 29 Vol. 9

Families verpletter nadat honde vergiftig word - bladsy 3

Atletiek-fiasko bring einde aan SA-drome - bladsy 4

AfriForum warns that pollution of water source constitutes a severe criminal offence

Test shows water unsafe By Linda van der Westhuizen

The Vhembe District Municipality (VDM) was not very helpful when the civil rights organisation AfriForum came to test the water quality of the new boreholes in Makhado (Louis Trichardt) on 28 February. Only then did they admit that they had already taken water tests, of which the results showed that the water of some boreholes was unfit for human consumption. “Hydrocare is busy installing chlorinators at the four new boreholes,” said VDM spokesperson Mr Moses Shibambu on Tuesday. AfriForum’s head of environmental affairs, Mr Julius Kleynhans, and their Limpopo or­ ga­niser, Mr Tiaan Es­ terhuizen, visited the town on Wednesday and Thursday last week. They were taken on a tour by the local AfriFo­ rum exco to visit a couple of sewage hotspots and the boreholes. “What I observed so far is typical of the low 23% green-drop score of Limpopo and typical of management that is not pro-active in terms of main­ tenance and upgrading,” Kleynhans said afterwards. “This alone constitutes a criminal offence,” said Esterhuizen on seeing the sewage river, which is, inciden­ tally, just 50m from the newly drilled

borehole in President Street. “There is a chance that pollutants could enter the water table,” Kleyn­ hans said. According to them, the offence of polluting a water source could in some cases lead to a sentence of five years’ imprisonment or a fine of R5 million. That could be the out­ come of a lengthy process, involving the green scorpions, a possible direc­ tive by the Minister and court action. Local AfriForum chairperson Mr Wally Schultz explained that the contempt-of-court legal process with regard to the lack of a consistent water sup­ ply between certain hours every day would take its due course. “In the meantime, we are starting to tackle the sewage problem, which could lead to a criminal charge,” Schultz said. During the visit to the current waste-water management plant, an official confided to Kleynhans that six pumps were not in working order. The AfriForum team estimated that the plant was less than 50% operational. Kleynhans took water samples from the sewage river near President Street, the President Street borehole, the new caravan park borehole, and The borehole in President Street is a mere 50m from a sewerage river. The VDM’s own results showed that the water in at a municipal tap in President Street. this newly drilled borehole was unfit for human consumption. Pictured from left to right are Dr Ben van der Waal (local AfriForum branch), Mr Lampie Schoeman (local AfriForum branch), Mr Tiaan Esterhuizen (AfriForum’s Limpopo (Contd on P 2) organiser) and Mr Julius Kleynhans (AfriForum’s head of environmental affairs).

“This alone constitutes a criminal offence”

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Zoutpansberger 08 Maart 2013 by Zoutnet - Issuu