Preliminary investigations have revealed that eThekwini municipal employees seen in a trending video were not dumping bags of sewage in the Mount Moreland Conservancy near uMdloti.
According to the municipality, the black plastic bags contained silt extracted from the bottom of pump station sumps.
The investigation was sparked after a 59-second video clip went viral on social media, titled Irresponsible eThekwini Municipality. A man speaking over the video recording said: “I just caught all these okes dumping. Honestly, it smells like sewage, smells like raw sewage.”
Municipality spokesperson, Gugu Sisilana, said an investigation was conducted on January 16.
“The staff member stated that the bags fell off the truck as he was driving up a steep section of the road. The men seen in the video had disembarked to pick up the bags and load them back into the truck. The investigating official visited the site to investigate and found that the section of the incident was around a bend going uphill. There were traces of dried-up silt on the road and grass,” Sisilana said.
Sisilana explained that the silt is stored in plastic bags for ease of manual handling and transportation.
She said that the Canelands pump station does not have space for storing skips, therefore, the silt extracted “must be transported” by truck to the nearest pump station that has skips on site.
The silt was being transported from the Canelands pump station to the Ohlange pump station. Sisilana said that the Ohlange pump station has four empty skips used for the disposal of silt.
“The silt is stored in plastic bags and transported to the nearest pump station that has an empty skip in the yard. Thereafter, the skips are transported to an authorised legal dump site to be disposed of safely,” Sisilana said.
The city has also noted incorrect media reports claiming that employees dumped raw sewage into the uMdloti River, which resulted in a high E.Coli count affecting beaches. She said the health of residents and visitors is of paramount importance to the city.
“The black plastic bags were not dumped into the river or stream and there is no link between the silt and E.Coli. While the municipality encourages the public to take civic pride in the betterment of our city, the public is urged to do so responsibly and to refrain from making speculative accusations without concrete evidence.
“The city also warns against speculative reporting by the media and the public which tarnishes the image of the city without basis,” Sisilana said.
Two weeks ago, the city faced a similar problem when brown-shaped balls were found on uMhlanga beaches. The uMhlanga Main Beach and Bronze Beach were temporarily closed following investigations.
Sisilana confirmed that the solid balls were taken for testing.
“Laboratory results released by scientists from the Scientific Services of samples taken from the solid ‘balls’, which were shown in a circulating video on social media, have found that the solid particles are fats, likely originating from food establishments.“
Sisilana warned against speculative reporting by the media and the public which tarnishes the image of the city without basis,” Sisilana said.
