Gauteng Municipality Discharging Raw Sewage into Rivers in the Cradle of Humankind

Failures in the sanitation management of Mogale City Local Municipality, located on Gauteng’s West Rand, have resulted in contaminated rivers and a degraded environment, jeopardizing communities, heritage, and ecosystems. This area is home to 440,000 residents and significant portions of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site (CoHWHS).

Mogale City’s Green Drop score fell from 75% in 2013 to 65% in 2021 and plummeted to below 30% in 2025, categorizing it as critical. This marked the most significant regression in Gauteng, dropping from average to critical performance, as highlighted in the report.

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The Green Drop Report from the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) serves as the national benchmark audit for evaluating the condition of wastewater treatment works (WWTWs).

All three of Mogale City’s WWTWs are critically compromised: Flip Human at 30% (down from 64% in 2021); Percy Stewart at 30% (down from 68% in 2021); and Magaliesburg at 27% (down from 49% in 2021).

The City received a 0% rating for both microbiological and chemical compliance, which involves checks for harmful pathogens (like E. coli) that present health risks and chemical pollutants (such as nutrients, organic loads, and heavy metals) that can impair water quality and damage aquatic ecosystems.

DWS has issued a Red Regulatory Notice mandating the municipality to submit a Corrective Action Plan by the end of May. This plan must outline a detailed, time-bound strategy for restoring its treatment facilities.

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Trevor Brough, director of the CoHWHS Association, stated, “To label it an absolute disaster would be an understatement.” He noted that facilities continue to release raw sewage into rivers already suffering from over a century of acid mine drainage.

He referred to the Blougatspruit and Bloubankspruit, where the output from Percy Stewart WWTW flows, as “rivers of disease”.

Read: Sewage is wrecking South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind, Ramaphosa says

A 2024 Water Resources Status report by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) identified the Percy Stewart WWTW as a primary threat to the Cradle of Humankind site, with the worst pollution occurring downstream. Here, E. coli counts consistently surpass 2,419 per 100ml, well above the CSIR’s “extreme high risk” threshold of 1,000 MPN/100ml. The odor of raw sewage is overpowering.

Andreas Oberlechner, chairperson of the Roodekrans Neighbourhood Watch, stated that for 15 years the Percy Stewart facility has been “essentially pumping raw sewage straight back into the river … It has devastated the ecosystem of the Cradle of Humankind.”

Criminal neglect

Twelve of Mogale City’s 14 sewerage network pump stations have been found non-functional, meaning significant amounts of sewage do not even reach the treatment plants.

Of the sewage that does arrive at the three WWTWs, which have a combined design capacity of 89,500 kilolitres (kL) of effluent daily, only 53,500 kL/d can be processed. The actual operational flow reaches 59,720 kL/d, resulting in approximately six million litres of untreated sewage entering the environment each day.

The department reported that Mogale City has the lowest operational staff ratio in Gauteng, with fewer than two qualified staff members per plant. Additionally, the City lacks three supervisors and seven qualified process controllers.

Under the National Water Act, the department has referred one criminal case related to persistent pollution or negligence to the National Prosecuting Authority.

It has also issued a formal Notice of Intention to Issue a Directive, which acts as a final administrative warning before further intervention or legal actions are considered.

The department mentioned it is earmarking water grants for the repair and refurbishment of failing pump stations and treatment works.

GroundUp sent queries over a week ago, but as of publication, Mogale City’s executive management had not approved the responses.

© 2026 GroundUp. This article was first published here.