AfriForum’s Springs branch submitted a petition, signed by about 300 concerned members of the public, to the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality. The petition objects to the fact that sewage that continuously flows into the Blesbokspruit has been ignored for several weeks and it was handed to the city manager.
The Springs branch launched a campaign that would address the increase of sewage into the Blesbokspruit over a period of eight weeks. The project kicked off on 1 October 2018 with an online petition that was spread on social media during the first week. The branch also wrote several letters to the municipality and launched actions to proactively mobilise community members’ involvement and apply pressure to the municipality.
“The branch already received feedback from the municipality that urgent attention would be given to the Blesbokspruit case and that the East Rand Water Care Association (ERWAT) had been approached to provide additional information. We will continuously follow up, however, to ensure that the problem enjoys the highest priority because it has been going on for so long,” says Richardt Lubbe, Chairperson of Local Government Affairs at AfriForum’s Springs branch.
Issues such as this one emphasises the importance of communities campaigning for a cleaner, safer and sustainable future by becoming involved and addressing problems themselves. The branch encourages the community to join in AfriForum’s actions and add their names to the Blesbokspruit petition by following this link: https://antiek.afriforum.co.za/toename-van-e-coli-die-blesbokspruit/.