Note to Editors: Please find an English soundbite by Cllr Derek Thomson here
For over a year the City of Ekurhuleni’s air quality monitoring systems have been non-functional, leaving city air pollution levels to rise unchecked, threatening health and wellbeing of all residents.
The DA has reported this serious failing to the Green Scorpions, who can investigate and issue Ekurhuleni with compliance notices.
The DA has also written to the City’s MMC for Environment Councillor Manamela, calling for action and intervention to fix this crucial system, including:
- Timeframes for the restoration of all non-functional air quality monitoring stations;
- Maintenance schedules for all air quality monitoring stations and; and
- Renewal of external maintenance contracts, because all signs point to this being a serious breakdown in routine maintenance.
Right now it is impossible to say if the quality of Ekurhuleni air is safe to breathe, because the failing ANC-ActionSA-EFF government is leaving the air unchecked, untested and unmonitored.
Not one of Ekurhuleni’s ten Air Quality Monitoring Stations (AQMS) are useable by the South African Air Quality Information System (SAAQIS).
The maintenance contracts for these air quality monitors, just like contracts for sewage, chemical toilets, roads and basics like grass cutting are all being neglected, left to lapse or unpaid by the failing ANC-ActionSA-EFF government.
Shockingly, the only functional and operating air quality monitoring stations in the northern part of Ekurhuleni are run by external entities, including C&M Consulting Engineers, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE), the South African Weather Services (SAWS), and the City of Johannesburg.
Without accurate and updated data, the city’s industrial developments cannot be tested or regulated, and there is no compliance with air quality criteria – putting lives at risk and undermining environmental laws.
Ekurhuleni is losing its battle against air pollution, and so many other failures.
The DA will continue to fight for the future of Ekurhuleni, so that the doomsday ANC-ActionSA-EFF coalition cannot drive the city into the ground for much longer.