Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) - partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 17 June 2010

The East Rand-based Environment and Conservation Association is preparing to bring criminal charges against Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica for her failure to attend to pollution that is contaminating the Hartbeespoort Dam.

Hartbeespoort dam water quality

Nicole Barlow, the chairwoman of the association, said the organisation’s legal representatives were finalising a comprehensive draft of criminal charges to be laid at the Rustenburg police station against the minister and President Jacob Zuma for their failure to uphold section 24 of the Constitution, which requires the government to protect water resources.

“The issue of the pollution of the Hartbeespoort Dam has been going on for a very long time, stemming mainly from untreated sewage and acid mine drainage from the mining companies in the Witwatersrand,” Barlow said.

Despite limited resources, the organisation had been conducting quarterly tests that found that the fish in the dam were bleeding from the nose, mouth and gills, she said. Continue reading Minister to face charges for failure to protect water resources