Mabuza on Wednesday announced at the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) that he and a delegation of ministers will be heading to the troubled municipality today. His announcement follows a supplementary question from of member of the House about issues clouding the municipality that is regarded as one of the biggest polluters of the Vaal, amongst many alleged perpetrators. Mabuza also announced that one of the main reasons for his visit to the municipality is to dissect and deal with issues such as the raw sewage spillages and also get feedback from members of the SANDF since they were deployed to assist with the revitalisation of the Vaal.

Mabuza says he will be flanked by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, and the minister of Human Settlements, Water, and Sanitation, Lindiwe Sisulu.

Mabuza told House members that he wants to see for himself the challenges the municipality is facing and assess if it's possible to elevate those speedily. He adds that the three of them will also request the update from the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) about its interventions since it was appointed by president Cyril Ramaphosa to assist and revamp the Vaal.

The supplementary question to Mabuza was also about the fact that on Monday the Sheriff of the court attached items of the municipality. OFM News previously reported that Emfuleni and other Gauteng municipalities affected by the Vaal River pollution crisis is working around the clock to acquire funds set to maintain and sustain the river. This follows after efforts by the SANDF to have the river rehabilitated after years of neglect and pollution. Ratau told OFM News that municipalities need to find or have qualified teams who will be able to take over the work done by the SANDF when it leaves the river at the end of December 2019.

OFM News