Who and what is AfriForum?

AfriForum is an Afrikaans civil rights organisation that protects the rights of minority groups at national as well as provincial level, and anyone who can identify with AfriForum’s principles and objectives may join the organisation. AfriForum’s community plan focuses on mobilising communities to thus take control of their own streets and neighbourhoods again. AfriForum ensures that your constitutional and civil rights are recognised and protected at national level.

Wie en wat is AfriForum?

AfriForum is ’n Afrikaanse burgerregteorganisasie wat die regte van minderheidsgroepe op sowel nasionale as provinsiale vlak beskerm, en enigiemand wat met AfriForum se beginsels en doelstellings kan identifiseer, mag by die organisasie aansluit. AfriForum se gemeenskapsplan fokus daarop om gemeenskappe te mobiliseer om só weer beheer terug te neem oor hul eie strate en woonbuurtes. AfriForum verseker dat jou grondwetlike én burgerregte op nasionale vlak erken en beskerm word.

AfriForum set to undertake private water testing after Stellenbosch Municipality refuses testing and information

Stellenbosch Municipality’s desperate efforts to keep facts about the quality of water in this municipality a secret will soon be a thing of the past when the results of private testing carried out on behalf of AfriForum are released. AfriForum has already commissioned an independent and accredited laboratory to undertake comprehensive water tests and, among other things, to investigate allegations of the pumping of untreated sewage into the Veldwagters and Eerste Rivers. AfriForum plans to release the report’s results shortly.

These steps are a response to a year-long struggle to obtain information from the municipality about Stellenbosch’s water quality under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA).

AfriForum already submitted its PAIA application to the municipality in October 2023, after members of this civil rights organisation complained about the alleged pollution of and sewage discharge into Stellenbosch’s rivers. Among other things, the application requested information about the management of the municipal sewage treatment plant and the reports regarding the water quality in the Eerste and Veldwagters Rivers.

At that stage, AfriForum also took water samples itself and had analyses done at a local accredited laboratory, which confirmed dangerous levels of sewage pollution.

However, the municipality refused to make the information requested in the PAIA application available to AfriForum and argued that this information is confidential and can therefore not be released. The municipality promised to deliver the required reports to AfriForum even prior to the submission of the PAIA application. AfriForum meanwhile filed an appeal, but this was also dismissed.

In August of this year, AfriForum also informed the municipality that the civil rights organisation will conduct a water quality test in Stellenbosch and requested cooperation in this regard. This testing was set to form part of the organisation’s annual national Blue and Green Drop Project, whereby the quality of drinking and treated sewage water is tested at more than 330 locations nationwide. Municipalities are always informed in advance of AfriForum’s plans to conduct tests and permission and cooperation are requested.

The municipality also turned down this request for cooperation. The municipality informed AfriForum on 6 September that they independently and internally test the water, and they do not typically make the results available before the Department of Water and Sanitation publishes their own Blue Drop and Green Drop Reports. Furthermore, AfriForum was informed that access to the Stellenbosch sewage treatment plant will only be given with permission from the office of the municipal manager.

According to Jacques Benade, AfriForum’s District Coordinator for the Boland, the municipality’s handling of the potentially dangerous situation is extremely worrying. “The municipality has rejected several attempts at cooperation. Requests for information are brushed aside under the guise of confidentiality, and in the meantime, pollution is likely to continue. The Stellenbosch community is entitled to the truth and reassurance that water quality here is up to standard,” emphasises Benade. “Transparency and honesty of the municipality are essential, but in the absence of that, AfriForum will continue to investigate the quality and take further steps based on the independent study should it appear that the water quality is inadequate.”

Benade maintains that optimal water quality is not only essential for residents’ health but that the region’s economy, which relies heavily on the fruit, wine and tourism industries, depends on it.

Meanwhile, AfriForum has also instructed its legal team to investigate further steps that can be taken in response to the municipality’s refusal to provide information requested in terms of the PAIA process.