/ MEDIA STATEMENT / The content on this page is not written by Polity.org.za, but is supplied by third parties. This content does not constitute news reporting by Polity.org.za.

ActionSA stands firmly against the possibility of further discharge permits being granted to the City of Cape Town by the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and Environment (DFFE) - as the City has repeatedly refused to abide by the daily limits of effluent discharge granted through its existing Coastal Water Discharge Permits (CWDP).

In a document shared between media and the DFFE, seen by ActionSA, the DFFE confirms that the City of Cape Town applied for a CWDP to release effluent from the Mitchell’s Plain Wastewater Treatment Works (WWTW) into coastal water, but that "no specialist studies were included which are necessary to assess the environmental impact of the discharge". 

A singular public participation meeting was held in Rocklands in October last year to discuss the new proposed permit, after which the City has seemingly gone silent.

Applications for a permit were also made in 2017 and 2019, but the DFFE denies having records of these applications.

The City currently releases in excess of 30 million litres of raw, untreated sewage daily into marine reserves through marine outfalls along the Atlantic seaboard. This total far exceeds the accepted daily maximum volumes of permitted sewage, as revealed through a PAIA application filed by ActionSA in 2023.

In response to a Parliamentary question in October, Minister Dion George confirmed that the NPA may seek to prosecute the City for its blatant flaunting of roles. In November, opposition councillors in the City also announced legal action for the City's suspected discharge of effluent from the Mitchell’s Plain WWTW at Strandfontein. Should the city be found contravening the law in the latter case, it could pay a R5 million fine.

ActionSA firmly recommends that Minister George deny the City of Cape Town further CWDPs, especially in its application to discharge effluent from Mitchell's Plain WWTW into coastal waters. 

Government entities can only be entitled to new responsibilities should they prove they abide by existing rules and are reasonably responsible.

The City of Cape Town has proven neither.

Issued by ActionSA National Chairperson Michael Beaumont