SA must have national polluters registry to deal with environmental, water pollution – Mchunu

JOHANNESBURG - The Department of Water and Sanitation said the country must have a national registry of polluters in order to deal with pollution of the environment and water sources across the country.

On Friday, the department held a workshop in Vanderbijlpark that was attended by various stakeholders, including the mayors of three local municipalities in Gauteng, as well as Rand Water Board chairperson, Ramateu Monyokolo, and representatives from the Department of Forestry and Fisheries.

The workshop took place as a resilient alien weed, thriving on a toxic mix of warm temperatures and pollution, turned parts of the Vaal River into a spongy green mattress, enveloping the river.

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First flagged by residents and business owners in 2021, the South American invasive weed likely made its way from someone's garden along the Suikerbosrand River.

It took three years for decisive action to be taken, while the lettuce multiplied rapidly, doubling every 10 days at the moment.

Minister of Water and Sanitation Senzo Mchunu said his ministry would deal with this issue head-on and take it by the scruff of the neck for the benefit of the environment, business, and communities.

"It’s important that we clean our act and the environment, and we do everything we can as the forum and all other actions that are going to be taken."

He said the battle against pollution’s continuing.

"We are going to go to other key systems in Gauteng, and key systems in the country as a whole. This is work we are going to undertake in the next few weeks because we now realise that not everything is being done to ensure that we stop pollution."

Mchunu added that a national register of polluters was necessary to make people account for their transgressions.