Swartkops fish a danger

I KNOW it's a cliche, but "I told you so", referring to the article "Warning on eating of Swartkops fish", March 6.

Thank you to Dr Nadine Strydom and her dedicated team of students for revealing to us through their independent pollution study that residents can damage their liver and kidneys if they keep on eating fish that was caught in the Swartkops River.

This was suspected all along, but now there is concrete evidence that fish from the area contain alarming amounts of dangerous metals.

I will be asking questions at the next public health standing committee meeting on when sign boards will be erected to warn residents of consuming fish caught from the estuary.

At the meeting on October 22 last year I raised a question regarding the person that contracted hepatitis-A after eating oysters from the Swartkops River.

I got the answer that "the environmental health directorate, in conjunction with the district office of health, is currently busy harvesting oysters from the cement pillars of the Settlers bridge to be analysed at the National Health Laboratory Services to verify the presence of the causative pathogen."

To date no final report on this matter has come before the committee and I again will be asking for it.

An investigation was also done by the Green Scorpions many months ago to determine which companies along the estuary are contributing to the contamination, but to date the outcome thereof is still not forthcoming although councillors on the MPAC committee continuously request it.

The culprits should be heavily fined and named and shamed in the media.

This disregard for our environment is totally unacceptable and an immediate intervention is required.

The DA views this unacceptable negligence on the metro's part and total disregard for the people's lives that are being put at risk. Any death that arises as a result of this should be seen at the hands of the metro for creating conditions that have caused this unfortunate situation to occur.

The DA will continue to hold the NMBM accountable and when coming into power will ensure the protection of our natural resources.

DA councillor Brenda Matthee, member of the public health standing committee, NMBM