Swartspruit River still a stench for Kempton Park community

The civil rights watch dog AfriForum had the sewage outlet in the Swartspruit River in Kempton Park tested on 17 August 2017 and again on 12 October 2017 to determine the quality of the town’s sewage. AfriForum’s Kempton Park branch conducted Sanas-accredited water tests after various community members continuously complained about the unbearable stench coming from the Swartspruit River.

“We established that the sewage outlet did not adhere to minimum requirements. Water tested positive for faecal coliforms, E. coli, nitrates and phosphates, of which the concentration was not within the set standards,” says Marie Naude, AfriForum’s District Coordinator for Gauteng South.

The second round of tests were conducted after the local AfriForum branch had sent numerous letters and meeting invitations to the Ekurhuleni Local Municipality to no avail.

“The Swartspruit River is deteriorating and the municipality is doing nothing to address the problem. We are at a stage where we as a community need to take a stand and do something about this problem. We cannot allow the incompetency of municipal officers to cause pollution to our valuable water resources and we therefore plan to take action.

“We ask the residents of Kempton Park to give AfriForum the mandate to continuously monitor water quality. SMS ‘Kempton Park’ to 45342 to support this action. Each SMS costs R1,” says Jan Vermaak, the Chairperson of AfriForum’s Kempton Park branch.