Emalahleni officials must pay for environmental crimes, not residents – AfriForum
AfriForum is of the opinion that progress is being made in the protection of the country’s natural heritage by the persecution of serious environmental crimes, such as the one recently committed by the Emalahleni Local Municipality. However, the R650 million fine imposed by the court on this Municipality will be paid at residents’ expense, rather that the officials who allowed years of sewage spills to continue.
The Mpumalanga High Court recently imposed a huge fine after the Municipality admitted guilt for various offences in terms of the National Environmental Management Act (Nema) 107 of 1998 and the National Water Act 36 of 1998. The Municipality, due to its own negligence, caused serious environmental pollution between 2019 and 2025. This resulted in raw and untreated sewage being discharged into, among others, the Olifants River.
The Municipality was ordered by the Court to use R500 million of the fine for rehabilitation and repairs to the infrastructure that caused this pollution by April 2031. All spending must come from the existing municipal budget and must be reported to the Department of Water and Sanitation and the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environmental Affairs.
“Residents suffered through years of raw sewage and now they must fund the repairs through a budget that already fails to deliver basic services. Worse still, it is the same incapable Municipality that must now somehow fix what it has been unable to fix for years. This does not inspire confidence,” says Marais de Vaal, Advisor for Environmental Affairs at AfriForum.
AfriForum argues that this approach shields negligent officials from the consequences of their actions while residents have to pay the price twice – first through the environmental impact and then through diverted service delivery budgets. AfriForum demands that the officials responsible be punished and removed from their positions to ensure real accountability.
The civil rights organisation will continue to ensure that residents are not harmed further by the Emalahleni Municipality’s negligence and mismanagement.
