[imagesource:x/actionsawesterncape]

Political party ActionSA is stirring up the k*k that is being pumped off of Cape Town’s coast.

While it may at times seem like a ‘low blow’ on the part of ActionSA to target the holes in South Africa’s infrastructure, the political group led by ex-DA hotshot Herman Mashaba is ‘on point’ when it comes to holding the state accountable.

Infrastructure campaign spokesperson Micheal Beaumont pointed out this week that the City of Cape Town continues to underplay the dire marine pollution situation in the area.

Speaking on behalf of the party, Beaumont warned Cape Town government officials that if the situation is not taken seriously, the city could suffer a monumental decrease in tourism, citing eThekwini as an example.

“eThekwini in 2015 had 7.9-million tourists visiting its coastline. Today that number is less than 800,000. That is the devastating effect of sewage on the coastline of eThekwini. eThekwini needs to be a wake-up call because [Cape Town is] heading in that direction.”

This challenge to the government was aired at a brief press meeting after Beaumont and other ActionSA representatives chartered a helicopter to get a bird’s eye view of the three sites where “partially treated” sewerage is pumped into Cape Town’s waters. The heli flip formed part of the Cape Town division of the party’s so-called “#ShittyTour which aims to expose the state’s lack of sewerage and general waste infrustration.

According to Beaumont, the City of Cape Town keeps “denying the problem,” a sentiment backed by residents and holidaymakers who remember all too well the closing of multiple beaches last year, due to unsafe levels of sewerage in the water. Yuk.

“The beaches of the beautiful city are being shut because they are unsafe,” Beaumont added after the helicopter ride.

ActionSA also pointed out that as recently as November last year, they had to lay criminal charges against the City of Cape Town government for failing to adhere to the sewerage outfall guidelines at a waste management site in Hout Bay.

With Cape Town’s population doubling in the last ten years and the city’s failure to provide proper waste management for all citizens, we are in danger of affecting our much-needed tourism engagement. Not to mention the gross realities of how improperly discharged sewerage can affect citizens’ health in many ways.

ActionSA premier candidate for the Western Cape Angela Sobey has suggested that part of the reason the pollution situation is so severe in Cape Town is due to the lingering structural issues from historical legacies of unfair resource provision and management.

“One of the bigger challenges we are dealing with in the Western Cape is the lack of political will to address apartheid-legacy spatial panning and these are the areas hardest hit,” Sobey explained.

A visit by ActionSA as part of the #ShittyTour to Nomzamo township in Strand emphasized Sobey’s criticism of overlooked, usually previously segregated, areas of Cape Town.

The pictures of the team walking through Nomzamo bring a new meaning to ‘when the sh*t hits the fan’.

City of Cape Town’s MMC for water and sanitation Zahid Badroodien responded to ActionSA’s call for legal action against the city by confirming that an external audit was underway for the contentious Hout Bay sewerage offload site, as well as more research into expanding sewerage and waste management in the city in general.

As a Capetonian, I don’t care who sorts it out, as long as our gorgeous coast is protected. At least ActionSA is causing k*k in the right direction – at those in charge, not in the ocean.

[source:timeslive]