uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) has announced that it will lay criminal charges against the Mayor and city manager of eThekwini Municipality, citing repeated failures in sewerage and wastewater management that have led to beach closures along Durban’s coastline.
The charges are set to be submitted on Monday, December 22, 2025, at 10am at the Durban Central Police Station (CR Swart) in Berea.
The party described the beach closures as the latest example of a “continued collapse of sewerage and wastewater management,” which it says has created a public health hazard.
MK Party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said sewage spills and failing wastewater infrastructure have caused “serious economic harm to tourism, small businesses and livelihoods, especially during the festive season”.
Following the closures, eThekwini Municipality reopened three of its four affected beaches on Saturday, December 20, 2025, after detecting pollution.
The beaches that have been reopened are eThekwini Beach, Country Club Beach, and Battery Beach.
”Blue Lagoon Beach remains closed due to continued detection of pollution,” the municipality said.
The municipality confirmed that all 22 open bathing beaches are being monitored by lifeguards, Metro Police officers, and South African Police Service members to ensure a safe and enjoyable festive season.
He added that the contaminated beaches pose “real risks of gastrointestinal illness, skin infections and other waterborne diseases to residents and visitors alike”.
According to Ndhlela, despite repeated warnings, court interventions, and public outrage, the municipality has failed to fix collapsing wastewater treatment works, dysfunctional pump stations, ageing sewer networks, and a lack of consequence management.
The MK Party called on the Minister of Water and Sanitation to intervene. Ndhlela said, “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.”
He added that emergency stabilisation of failing wastewater infrastructure, independent oversight of water quality testing, and firm action against those responsible were urgently needed.
The party stated that it would also lodge a formal complaint with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), highlighting repeated sewage contamination as a violation of constitutional rights to a safe environment, dignity, and access to basic services.
“Durban’s coastline is a public asset and an economic lifeline, not a dumping ground for sewage caused by incompetence, neglect, and political paralysis.
”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,” the party said.
Politics
