Statement by Mark Rountree, National Policy Officer for GOOD
7 July 2021
The Cape’s biodiversity is globally recognised and some areas have been designated as areas of international importance, such as the RAMSAR wetlands in the False Bay Nature Reserve. These wetlands are extremely sensitive to pollution from nutrients in wastewater.
“For more than 2 years, the wetlands around Milnerton in Cape Town have been subjected to ongoing sewage releases, causing very high levels of pollution of the sensitive watercourses and the Diep River Estuary,” says Mark Rountree, environmental expert and National Policy Officer for GOOD.
The Provincial Minister of Environmental Affairs, Anton Bredell, has been slow to act against Dan Plato, the Mayor of Cape Town. Despite the responsibilities their positions carry, it seems Bredell and Plato are reluctant to make real the environmental protection that our democratic legislation provides.
“The laws protecting rivers and wetlands in South Africa are good and generally more advanced than the rest of the world,” says Rountree. “but laws only work if they are enforced. It is disappointing that Plato and Bredell seem unable or unwilling to embrace their responsibility to protect communities and the environment.”
This month, a report of new sewage spills has come in from another of Cape Town’s wetlands – at Zeekoevlei in the RAMSAR wetlands of the False Bay Nature Reserve. RAMSAR wetlands are wetlands of international importance and South Africa has a global duty, in terms of the RAMSAR agreement, to protect the priority wetland systems that it designates.
Ms Susanne Yarcher, a Chemical Engineer from Envirosense in Cape Town, has reported that a massive sewer has been overflowing for nearly a week in to waterways on the eastern side of Zeekoevlei, a large natural wetland part of the False Bay RAMSAR wetland system.
“As neither the Plato nor Bredell have been able to resolve the ongoing sewage crisis in Cape Town, I have written to both the National Ministers of Water and Sanitation, Minister Sisulu, and Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Minister Creecy, to request that their departments act to protect Cape Town’s communities and their wetlands,” said Rountree.