The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) says it will lay criminal charges against the eThekwini Mayor and the city manager over the sewage pollution crisis.
This comes after the eThekwini Municipality temporarily closed four popular beaches, including Blue Lagoon, Battery Beach, Country Club Beach, and eThekwini Beach, after pollution was detected on Thursday.
Three beaches were reopened on Saturday but Blue Lagoon Beach remains closed.
The party says it will open a case against the mayor on Monday, December 22 2025, at the Durban Central Police Station.
THE MUNICIPALITY’S ONGOING SEWAGE CRISIS
The MK Party’s National Spokesperson, Nhlamulo Ndhlela, said this situation is no longer an unfortunate incident but a chronic governance failure that has turned Durban’s coastline into a public health hazard.
“Despite years of warnings, repeated sewage overflows, court interventions and public outrage, the eThekwini Municipality has failed to fix the collapsing wastewater treatment works, dysfunctional pump stations, ageing sewer networks and a complete lack of consequence management,” Ndhlela said.
The MK Party calls on the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Pemmy Majodina, to intervene in eThekwini’s ongoing sewage crisis.
“The minister cannot continue to issue policy statements while one of South Africa’s major metros repeatedly allows untreated or partially treated sewage to flow into rivers and the ocean,” the party said.
The MK Party also demands that the municipality be put under administration.
“Repeated sewage contamination of public beaches is not only an environmental failure, but also a serious public health crisis that violates people’s constitutional rights to a safe environment,” the party said.
The party has also vowed to lodge a formal complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC)
The party wants SAHRC to assess the human rights impact of these failures.
“The people of eThekwini deserve a municipality that fixes infrastructure before it collapses, not one that reacts only after beaches are closed and damage is already done,” said Ndhlela.
