Nafasi Water Technologies, in partnership with the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), has launched a waste sludge processing facility at the Highveld Industrial Park in eMalahleni, Mpumalanga.

The facility is designed to recover and process waste sludge generated from mine-impacted water treatment, converting it into commercially saleable chemical inputs for fertiliser production.

IDC Divisional Executive for Industry and Project Development Riaan Coetzee says the project will also help address acid mine drainage in the province.

Coetzee says, “It’s also important because of the fertilisers situation globally, where we know in the Ukraine Russian war the whole value chain of fertilisers had been disrupted so we need to create import replacement opportunities for fertilisers and this project actually does that. What is also very nice of this project is that it is in Mpumalanga area where it deals with a problem of the mine which is actually not nice to look at, the slugged piles are very not good to look at so it is something that if one can reduce that the environment can be enhanced.”

Significant work needed to address untreated sewage discharge to land, freshwater


Untreated sewage

Meanwhile, civil action group the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) says it would welcome the prosecution of the Emfuleni Municipal Manager if the municipality fails to address the discharge of untreated sewage into the Vaal River.

The municipality has been battling sewage and wastewater spillages into the river. In May, the municipality dismissed the allegations as untrue.

OUTA Executive Manager Julius Kleinhans says holding the municipal manager personally accountable would send a strong message to other municipal managers across the country.

Kleinhans says, “Rate payers pay for sanitation charges and for wasteful treatment to take place however we see for over a decade in our municipalities of which Emfuleni is a very good example for contaminating the Vaal River System without any consequences. We believe if the municipal manager is prosecuted in his personal capacity that will set a significant difference in wasteful treatment and management throughout the country and in our municipalities.”

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