Stakeholders affected by the ongoing sewage problems at the Durban Harbour are not satisfied by the outcome of a meeting held by eThekwini Municipality to discuss contamination issues in the harbour.
The stakeholders said this after attending a virtual meeting held on Friday, 4 June, coordinated by eThekwini Municipality’s Water and Sanitation Department together with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). The aim of the meeting was to give feedback to the CSIR report No. 36 on sea disposal of sewage as per an environmental survey conducted in the Durban outfalls regions in 2019. The stakeholders said they expected more from the meeting which they felt was another tick in the box, the same as all other meetings called before. “We expected that they will discuss one of the major sewer issues affecting the Durban Harbour,” said one of the stakeholders who attended the meeting. According to business owners and environmentalists, weeks ago, raw sewage floated on the surface of the harbour water and the stench was terrible. They alleged that the sewage washed away during the recent heavy rainfall.
On Monday, 7 June The Springfield Weekly Gazette, visited the Durban Harbour to speak to some of the stakeholders could get the stench of sewage upon entering the gates, finding no visitors enjoying the scenery. All that could be seen were parked boats and security personnel and boat- washing staff who attested that things are very slow over the past months. Raynand du Plesis, a recreational fisherman who founded Save Durban Harbour, asked whether the municipality will ever stop calling meetings. “We have 1000 litres of sewage flowing into the harbour on a daily basis. Walking along the harbour you get the smell. The charter people are suffering, businesses are suffering and the marine life is dying, when will they start tackling the cause of the spill?”
DA Councillor Sharmaine Sewshanker, who was also part of the meeting, said she has been inundated with emails from concerned environmentalists who want answers on where the sewage is coming from and what is being done to stop it. “In the meeting they told us about research which was done over a 17km stretch from the harbour to the Bluff in 2019, but nothing came out of it. There were no plans of action, no resolutions whatsoever. Mark Hall, general manager of Durban Marina, said for the past three weeks, there was a constant sewage flow into the harbour, causing a major problem for the boating fraternity. “We would love for the municipality to tell us where exactly the sewage is coming from and what are they planning to do about it. The meeting on Friday went well, but it was just like every other meeting we have attended where we are just being wheeled into believing that investigations are continuing with no feedback until the next meeting is called,” Hall said.
Jake Van den Berg, from a boating business, claimed that he suspects that the sewage comes from the city and flows through to Wilson’s Wharf and sits on the surface contaminating the water, disabling the boat cleaners and owners to get into the water. “Business fishing activity is slow as most fish species are moving away from our Durban waters because of all the chemicals in the sewer water. Our Snoeks and kutas don’t have scales to protect them from these chemicals. Now fishermen have to travel to get fish to the northern side past Umdloti and on southern side towards the Cuttings Beach. This continuous spills are affecting us,” Van den Berg said. He questioned whether tests are still being done regularly in the rivers and in the harbours. “Before, testing was done on a weekly basis but not anymore. Those are the type of things the municipality should be focusing on. The government doesn’t want to spend money on the sewerage systems everything will end up in our harbours and our rivers. They should investigate until they find the culprits or the source of the problem and fix it,” Van den Berg added. EThekwini Municipality spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said the city is unaware of any new incidents of sewer spillage into the harbour. “The last issue that was reported to the relevant units and was immediately dealt with. However, we will investigate the new reports.”
