Henri Smit News Today

One of the last clean rivers in the Buffalo City Metro has been choking under raw effluent. The Gonubie River has had sewage spewing into its estuary from a pipe alongside the Tidewaters picnic site since Friday as pump stations overflow due to load-shedding. BCM spokesperson Samkelo Ngwenya said: “With the back-to-back severe load-shedding that we are experiencing, we are bound to be getting these types of challenges, but we are not folding our arms.

Hundreds of metro households could get a New Year debt reprieve should council resolve to scrap more than R100m in rates and services owed. One Mdantsane business, according to a report tabled at the Buffalo City Metro’s latest council meeting on December 1, owes the metro more than R3m. The estate of a resident who died owes R743,521.

East London residents could be looking at the real possibility of losing access to the city’s last remaining garden waste dumpsite, as BCM’s contract with businessman Garry Rieger is set to expire on June 23.With the dump site gone, residents will have no other option but to travel to the municipality’s last two operating dump sites in Qonce or Ntabozuko (formerly Berlin) if they wish to dispose of their garden waste or building rubble.

The Buffalo City Metro billing system has been brought under the spotlight yet again, this time by members of the opposition following combined water and electricity financial losses of R493.7m. The auditor-general (AG) recently tabled a report at a BCM council meeting for the year ending June 2021, which revealed that the metro incurred R368.

Buffalo City’s main water treatment works, responsible for providing safe, clean water to about 80% of the metro’s residents, needs urgent intervention to keep the water flowing. The metro has confirmed that it is preparing to fork out R9m to prop up the Umzonyana water treatment works’ ageing infrastructure as an interim measure to ensure communities receive adequate supplies.

The Ngangeduku river once flowed through Gonubie, offering swimming spots and a thriving haven for wildlife. Today, blocked manholes on municipal land spew piles of foul white foam and sewage into the Ngangeduku, which in Xhosa means “the size of a knobkerrie”. Dismayed and angry residents spoke of their multiple attempts to get Buffalo City Metro to listen to their warnings.

Anger is building in Gonubie as the licensed private garden refuse and recycling site owned by businessman Garry Rieger threatens to shut on June 30 over nonpayment by Buffalo City Metro (BCM). Rieger said this was the only operating garden refuse site in Buffalo City, apart from Roundhill near Ntabozuko 41km away, and was only meant for use by Gonubie residents.

Reemoon enters the South African apple industry