Staff Reporter
The Knysna Local Municipality has been fined R10 million and placed under a court-backed repair programme after admitting to years of environmental failures that polluted rivers and streams flowing into the town’s lagoon.
The regional court imposed heavy sentences after the municipality pleaded guilty to contraventions of several environmental laws, including the National Environmental Management Act, the National Environmental Management: Waste Act, the Environmental Conservation Act and the National Water Act.
The R10 million fine was suspended for five years, but only on condition that the municipality spends the same amount on emergency repairs set out in its plea and sentencing agreement and meets strict deadlines.
The municipality must also implement long-term action plans for its waste and sewerage systems.
It must finalise the Maintenance Management Plan for the Bigai River floodplain by 30 June 2026, and submit monthly progress reports to environmental investigators.
The NPA said on Wednesday that the municipality must also use an approved R630 million council budget over five years “to ensure compliance with environmental obligations”.
In a further order, the municipality must pay R500,000 to the Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning by 30 July 2026, for environmental law enforcement.
The money is to support equipment, training, operational support, capacity-building and other measures aimed at strengthening environmental management inspectors and combating environmental crimes in the province.
The municipality was also fined R100,000, or five years’ direct imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years on condition that it is not convicted of a further offence under the National Water Act during the suspension period.
Acting municipal manager Boy Manqoba represented the municipality during the criminal proceedings.
According to the NPA, the municipality admitted that it had failed to take reasonable steps to prevent significant pollution and environmental degradation at Erf 214 in Knysna and at two temporary relocation areas, identified as TRA Site 1 and TRA Site 2, between 9 May 2017 and 22 July 2019.
The municipality admitted that excavations and earthworks for housing development were carried out without proper waste management systems. No skips or disposal containers were provided at the relocation sites.
A septic tank below TRA Site 2 leaked into an unnamed tributary of the Salt River.
Investigators also found visible erosion, waste disposal and dumping, sewage pollution, inadequate ablution facilities, illegal electricity and powerline connections, and domestic pigs being kept below TRA Site 2.
The municipality also admitted that it failed to comply with environmental directives issued on 23 April 2018. These required it to stop excavation and development activities causing environmental degradation, appoint a qualified environmental assessment practitioner to monitor and implement an approved rehabilitation plan, submit proof of the appointment within 30 days, and provide implementation and monitoring schedules.
The case also covered later pollution incidents. Between 4 October 2023, and 7 October 2024, sewage overflowed from open manholes into unnamed streams flowing into the Knysna Lagoon, causing significant pollution to water resources.
Between 2 October 2023, and 29 April 2024, the municipality also unlawfully disposed of waste on Erf 1339, Knysna, in breach of directives and action plans issued by environmental authorities.
Senior State Advocate Jacomina Swart said the pollution had serious consequences for the town and its economy. In papers before the court, she said “the continued discharging of untreated waste water containing high amounts of E-coli into the surrounding rivers and the Knysna lagoon and estuary” was detrimental to the health of residents and other users of the water resource.
Swart said the Knysna Estuary was “central to the local economy” because it was a primary tourist attraction, and warned that degraded water quality posed “a significant health risk” and could reduce tourism and investment.
She said the estuary was widely regarded as South Africa’s most important one for biodiversity and was home to sensitive fauna and flora, including the critically endangered and endemic Knysna seahorse.
According to the emergency repair programme reached in the plea agreement, by 30 July, the municipality must ensure that all waste is stockpiled inside the waste treatment station or containerised. No waste must be visible on the ground outside the facility, and enough open-top containers must be purchased. Daily waste removal must take place, and an extra hook-lift truck must be bought.
The municipality must also ensure that vital waste infrastructure, including the conveyor belt, waste compactor and removal trucks, is in working order by 30 July.
A contract service provider for maintenance at the waste facility must be appointed by 30 September.
Windblown waste must be collected and covered by 30 June, pest control contracts must be in place by 30 August, and an odour control system must be installed by 30 November.
Bigai River
For the Bigai River, the municipality must install lockable lids on manholes between Hornlee and Hunters Home by 30 June, monitor response times to sewage overflows through a daily register, and provide monthly reports to provincial environmental authorities.
It must also fix pump stations in the Hornlee residential area affecting the Bigai River and ensure the Woods conservancy tank is emptied timeously, with additional honey suckers on standby during heavy rain.
By 30 October, the municipality must conduct a census of unlawful sewerage connections in Hunters Home and Hornlee, investigate stormwater ingress into the sewerage system, and provide GPS mapping of manholes, sewerage infrastructure, pump stations and sewerage lines along the Bigai River.
The municipality must also act against illegal dumping and informal structures along the Bigai River floodplain. It must erect warning boards by 30 August, complete clean-ups by 30 September, survey people who erected illegal structures by 30 August, issue notices by 30 October, and implement relocation plans by 30 June 2027.
The long-term sewerage plan runs to 31 May 2031. It requires progress reports on the environmental impact assessment for the Woods sewer reticulation pipeline, the appointment of a Scada specialist and millwright, and the appointment of two technical specialists to assist with maintenance and repair of the municipality’s sewerage infrastructure.
The municipality must also appoint a SACNASP-registered aquatic or freshwater specialist from 1 July 2026, to assess the impact of continuous untreated sewage discharges and prepare a rehabilitation plan for approval by the Breede Olifants Catchment Management Agency.
The Bigai River floodplain maintenance plan says the lower reaches of the Bigai River are prone to flooding and that several culverts are blocked by silt and vegetation. It says maintenance work must avoid further ecological damage and should move from upstream to downstream, with the George Rex Drive culverts cleared last to protect the Knysna Estuary.
Acting Western Cape Director of Public Prosecutions Adrian Mopp welcomed the sentence, with the NPA saying it would continue taking all necessary steps to protect the integrity and safety of the environment.
