Gauteng Municipality Releases Untreated Sewage into Rivers in the Cradle of Humankind

Failures in sanitation management within the Mogale City Local Municipality, situated in Gauteng’s West Rand, have led to the contamination of rivers and environmental degradation, putting communities, heritage, and ecosystems at risk. This region is home to 440,000 residents and encompasses significant parts of the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site (CoHWHS).

The Green Drop score for Mogale City fell from 75% in 2013 to 65% in 2021, plummeting further to below 30% in 2025, marking it as critical. This represents the largest decline in Gauteng, transitioning from average to critical performance, as indicated in the report.

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The Green Drop Report from the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) provides a national benchmarking audit to assess the state of wastewater treatment works (WWTWs).

All three WWTWs in Mogale City 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 includes assessments for harmful pathogens (like E. coli) posing health risks and chemical pollutants (such as nutrients, organic loads, and heavy metals) that can degrade water quality and harm aquatic ecosystems.

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

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Trevor Brough, director of the CoHWHS Association, remarked, “To label it an absolute disaster would be an understatement.” He noted that facilities continue to discharge raw sewage into rivers that have already been impacted by over a century of acid mine drainage.

He referred to the Blougatspruit and Bloubankspruit, where output from the 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 from the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) identified the Percy Stewart WWTW as a primary threat to the Cradle of Humankind site, highlighting that the worst pollution occurs downstream. Here, E. coli counts consistently exceed 2,419 per 100ml, far surpassing the CSIR’s “extreme high risk” threshold of 1,000 MPN/100ml. The stench of raw sewage is overwhelming.

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

Criminal neglect

Twelve out of Mogale City’s 14 sewerage network pump stations have been found to be non-functional, meaning substantial quantities 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. Furthermore, the City is lacking three supervisors and seven qualified process controllers.

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

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

The department noted that it is allocating water grants for the repair and refurbishment of failing pump stations and treatment works.

GroundUp sent inquiries 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.