Latest news with #R2.6-million
Daily Maverick
03-08-2025
- Daily Maverick
Makana Municipality faces allegations of fraud and corruption over missing R2.6m water pump
The Makana Local Municipality lost a valuable asset meant to help supply much-needed water. This week marked three years since the Makana Local Municipality in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, paid more than R2.6-million for a mysteriously missing water pump. On Thursday, 31 July, the Makana council was set to discuss efforts to find the pump, which is crucial to provide water to residents of the iconic university town. Lungile Mxube, a councillor for the Makana Citizens Front, laid a charge of fraud and corruption against the municipal manager and the mayor last week over the 'loss' of the pump and related political manoeuvring that followed. Part of his complaint was that they had failed to recoup the municipality's losses for the pump. Makhanda has two major sources that provide water to the town. One of them, a dam in Howieson's Poort, has a pump station that ideally needs three pumps, but only had two. Then, in July 2022, one of them was sent in for a service and never returned, or a new one was ordered and never supplied – nobody is quite sure what happened – despite the municipality making a payment of R2.6-million under a service level agreement with the supplier, Manco Business Enterprise in East London. The municipality's former director of infrastructural services and engineering, Asanda Gindana, was fired in November 2023 for paying for the pump that disappeared, among other things. She approached the Local Government Bargaining Council in November 2024 to argue that she had been unfairly dismissed, and the municipality was ordered to pay her R634,000 in damages. Gindana didn't testify at this hearing. She had been charged with the unlawful payment of R2.6-million to Manco Business Enterprise for the supply and installation of one of the Howieson's Poort water pumps without doing due diligence. But even during this legal action the municipality took against her, there was no evidence explaining what had ultimately happened to the pump. One of the contested points was the question of whether the payment was for goods received or a service, and whether it was a prepayment or not. Searching in vain Jay Kruuse from the Public Service Accountability Monitor said he wished there was 'concrete evidence' that could be used to find the pump. 'There were allegations that a supplier was withholding the release of a pump as they had not been paid for repairs to another pump, but whether the missing pump is one and the same remains to be established,' Kruuse said. Phone calls to Manco Business Enterprise, based in Sterling Street in East London, went unanswered and emails that had been used by its directors during the tender process bounced back. Mxube has now asked the Hawks to step in. In an affidavit explaining his opening a case against the municipal manager, Pumelelo Kate, and executive mayor Yandisa Vara for contravening the Municipal Finance Act, he writes: 'It is reported that, on or about 25 July 2022, the former director of the Infrastructure and Engineering Department allegedly and wrongfully facilitated a payment of R2.694.029.63 to a private company known as Manco Business Enterprise for the supply, installation and delivery of a water pump to the Makana Local Municipality. 'I asked the accounting officer [Kate] a question as to whether the money was paid to a private business and whether a pump was delivered, and if it was delivered, where it is stationed, so that I can do an in loco inspection to assess its condition. 'The accounting officer confirmed on record that indeed, the amount mentioned was paid and no pump was delivered and no explanation was given as to why the pump was never delivered.' Mxube said Vara, municipal officials and Manco Business Enterprise should be charged for fraud and corruption over the missing pump. 'Both the accounting officer and mayor as the political head are responsible for this unlawful, irregular, wasteful, fruitless and reckless spending which resulted in Makana Municipality having incurred an unlawful expenditure of over R3.2-million. 'This total of irregular, wasteful and fruitless expenditure payments breaks down as the amount of R2,694,029.63 that was unlawfully paid to a private business company … and an amount of R634,696.25 being the damages awarded by the Bargaining Council for the unlawful termination of the former director's employment contract,' Mxube adds in his affidavit. 'Lost control of pumps' Emeritus professor Philip Machanick said the Makana Business and Residents' Association also applied for information on the missing pump, and the other pumps used by the municipality for potable water, but never received a straight answer. He said at first the municipality just ignored the application, and the association had to threaten it with contempt of court proceedings to get answers. The municipality did not answer all its questions and still did not say where the missing pump could be, but it also became alarmingly clear, Machanick explained, that Makana was also not in full control of the other pumps in its possession and could not accurately say where they were. 'These are major assets. It is not like putting down your cellphone and forgetting where you put it. You can't just lose a thing like that,' he added. Machanick said the window for the municipality to bring civil proceedings against Manco Business Enterprise was closing because of a legal prescription allowing only three years to take steps to recover money. 'When we ask the municipality,' Machanick said, 'it claims the case is sub judice, but until today we have not seen court papers or anything like that showing that it is trying to get back the money paid for the pump.' He added that the case was with the Hawks now and said the association believed it had a strong case. The Makhanda community has been experiencing a severe water crisis for more than a decade, stemming from a combination of ageing infrastructure, financial mismanagement and drought. Residents have faced prolonged water shortages, inconsistent supply and contaminated water due to the municipality's struggles to maintain and upgrade its water systems. The Makana Local Municipality did not respond to a request for comment or questions about whether it knows where the missing pump is. DM This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.
Daily Maverick
07-07-2025
- General
- Daily Maverick
How local litter traps are making a splash against pollution in SA
At the Soet River in Strand, Cape Town, the water is choked with waste. Plastic bags, bottles and discarded nappies form a thick, stagnant carpet. This is just one site on the frontline of South Africa's battle against plastic pollution. Now, a simple but powerful innovation is turning the tide: the litter trap. At their core, litter traps, ranging from floating litter booms to steel cages and grids, are simple. They are designed to capture floating waste, such as plastic bags, nappies, bottles, cans, domestic refuse, and even larger items such as tyres and mattresses, before it can escape downstream into larger bodies of water and, ultimately, the ocean. Across South Africa, litter traps have proven highly effective in intercepting tonnes of waste. They offer a beacon of hope, but these systems are not without limitations and require a multifaceted approach, including community engagement and sustainable waste management, to reach their scalable potential. An upstream battle against a downstream crisis Rising urbanisation and illegal dumping are overwhelming South Africa's waterways, creating a direct pipeline of pollution to the ocean. The logic, as championed by organisations like The Litterboom Project (TLP), is: why spend all our energy on beach clean-ups when 80% of ocean plastic originates from rivers? They believe that intercepting it upstream is the key. Litter traps are locally adapted systems designed for this purpose. They range from floating booms made of durable HDPE piping that guide waste to a collection point for recycling, to heavy-duty steel cages and grids that capture larger items. Since 2017, TLP has installed these systems in key rivers across KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, including at Cape Town's heavily polluted Black, Big Lotus and Little Lotus rivers. The results are staggering. Total waste intercepted by TLP since 2017 is more than 2.5 million kilograms; From January to June 2025 alone, TLP removed more than 288 tonnes of waste nationally, including 28 tonnes of recyclables; In just six months (January to June 2025), the two litter traps, augmented by litter booms, on the Big and Little Lotus rivers along the Zeekoevlei Catchment collected 7,322 bags of litter, weighing nearly 70 metric tonnes; and In its first two weeks of operation at the Soet River, a new litter cage captured about 700 bags of waste, plus tonnes of tyres, car parts and building materials. 'On average, we intercept approximately 50 tonnes of waste per month nationally… These passive, low-maintenance systems move naturally with the river's current, harnessing the flow to consistently intercept macroplastic pollution,' Megan Swart, TLP's project manager in Cape Town, told Daily Maverick. A coalition of the willing This success is not the work of one group, but a collaboration between government, NGOs and residents. The City of Cape Town, which spends up to R2.6-million annually on cleaning the Soet River alone, has embraced this multipronged approach. 'Chronic waste pollution due to rapid informality is choking the Soet River,' which was not good for residents and the environment, said mayoral committee member for water and sanitation Zahid Badroodien. He confirmed that the City, spurred by the Soet River Catchment Management Forum, has installed a series of four interceptors along this river and plans to add more. 'Being a heavily polluted river, the Soet River was fitted with four litter interceptors – a litter cage, two litter booms and a grid. More litter interceptors will be installed in the new financial year,' Badroodien said. At the litter traps along the Soet River in Strand, Cape Town, Daily Maverick saw first-hand the mass of waste polluting the waterway at various points while teams were clearing the newly erected litter cage. Lisa Starr, founder of the Helderberg Ocean Awareness Movement and a member of the Soet River Forum, told Daily Maverick that the litter traps along the Soet River had only been in action for two weeks but so far about 800 bags, as well as tonnes of tyres, car parts, TVs, building materials, a shopping trolley and more, had been removed from the cage bars. Badroodien said the City has put together an action plan which will be implemented over time to help tackle the challenge of the Soet River. This aims to augment City inventions that are already in place, as currently, the City spends between R1.5-million and R2.6-million each year on continuous cleaning efforts. But while it visually improves for a short while, Badroodien said this was not sustainable because the illegal dumping continues, which also doesn't improve the water quality in the river. 'As we work towards putting this multipronged plan into action, we need residents to please join hands with us and put their waste in the right place, using the solid waste services provided,' Badroodien added. Community groups are the vital eyes and ears on the ground. Sidney Jacobs, chair of the Friends of Zeekoevlei and Rondevlei (FoZR), said these traps were 'very effective as long as they were cleaned regularly'. The litter traps at the Big and Little Lotus rivers are cleaned on average twice a week, and since January 2025 until 20 June, Jacobs said a total of 7,322 bags of litter weighing more than 69.8 tonnes had been taken out and carted off to landfill by partners including the City of Cape Town. With inputs from most of the role players in the Zeekoevlei catchment area and with the Zeekoevlei Catchment Forum, Jacobs said the City was in the process of installing four more litter booms and fences further up the canals to take out the trapped litter before it reaches Zeekoevlei. These catchment management forums, according to FoZR deputy chair Tom Schwerdtfeger, were game-changers. 'For years, we fought an uphill battle,' he said. 'Since its inception in 2024, our forum has worked with the City… We are starting to see a noticeable reduction in the amount of solid waste reaching our Ramsar site, which is really encouraging,' said Schwerdtfeger The devastating impact and the call for community action The effect on the marine and natural environment from this waste in rivers is tragic. 'We have marine life eating our waste. Birds peck and eat polystyrene. I've witnessed it,' says Starr. All this waste then breaks down into microplastics, which are the most harmful as they eventually become so small that they get ingested or inhaled in the air we all breathe,' Starr said. Because pollution, and especially illegal waste, is a problem in many communities where rivers are found, Starr said it was vital that everyone understood the importance of a clean environment and for residents to see how their behaviours affect the environment around them. 'You can't trap everything, as more dumping lies after the trap too. We also can't keep mopping up; we need to educate the source and prevent littering and illegal dumping,' she said. Jacobs added that community education, especially in schools and churches, played an important role in reducing litter entering the waterways. Limitations of litter traps Despite their effectiveness, several challenges affect the operation and maintenance of litter booms and other litter traps. Access to some riverbanks can be difficult due to safety concerns or dense urban environments, limiting when and how teams can carry out maintenance. In KwaZulu-Natal, wide river systems combined with intense seasonal rainfall often cause flooding that can dislodge booms or allow debris to bypass them. To mitigate this risk, a number of booms are often installed in series. Ongoing maintenance is crucial, involving regular clearing of accumulated waste by river teams. Illegal dumping upstream can also overwhelm the booms' capacity, and theft of recyclable materials is a recurring issue in certain areas, which affects sorting efficiency and creates safety concerns for staff. 'Despite these challenges, our dedicated site teams conduct routine maintenance and adjust boom placements as necessary to maintain effectiveness,' Swart said. Jacobs echoed the importance of maintenance: 'The infrastructure of these litter traps will not hold up against consistent abuse and needs to be serviced regularly. This is one of the reasons you will see litter being removed even when it rains, as we do not want the fences washed away, even though they have been erected very solidly.' Gehardt Müller, head of Catchment Planning (East), Catchment Stormwater and River Management, Bulk Services, Water and Sanitation in the City of Cape Town, explained that they designed each intervention for the specific application and use various types of interceptors, and each type of interceptor has its limitations. This is dependent on the river hydraulics, velocity, profile of the river, variable seasonal flows (due to catchment areas and hydrology of the area), type of litter being thrown into the river and the location (vulnerable to theft and vandalism). The litter booms, for example, Müller and Badroodien said, only catch floating debris and miss the litter being transported below the surface, but they can float and manage to catch at various heights. They said that litter cages may have litter bypassing when the water level is high, which makes it helpful to install a series of interventions to catch litter in different scenarios. 'For example, in the Soet River we have large posts to catch the larger litter like tyres and mattresses, then a litter cage with smaller apertures downstream to catch the smaller litter, and a litter boom downstream of that to catch what may have topped over the other traps in high flows,' said Badroodien. They also noted that variable flows and large rain events affect the performance and capacity of the traps, so it was important to design sufficient bypass capacity in the rivers or channels to ensure the traps don't cause flooding when they are full of litter and impede the flow. Although there are limitations to each type, Badroodien and Müller said they were designing the best application for each site's conditions, monitoring them and making improvements based on what they learn. Ultimately, litter traps are only part of the solution. Their effectiveness depends on regular maintenance, community vigilance and a collective willingness to address the root causes of pollution. Upscaling these interventions is possible, but only if everyone (residents, the government and civil society) works together and recognises their shared responsibility for keeping communities clean. DM
