Chairperson, the Green Drop Certification Programme is intended to measure the efficacy of South Africa's sewage treatment works. It was launched late last year by the then Minister of Water Affairs and Forestry. We read every week of failures of our sewage treatment works. We read of raw sewage entering rivers that are choked with water hyacinth and potentially toxic algal blooms. We read of the death of rural residents, apparently after drinking water from contaminated rivers. We read of young animals in our famed Kruger National Park being at threat through exposure to faecal-contaminated river water.
The DA has visited numerous sewage treatment works over the past few months and has been alarmed to see the level of dysfunctionality in places like Umtata and Port St Johns. We have not, however, yet seen the Green Drop Report, which has apparently been an internal document for some months now. The DA has been told, off the record, that there is no good news in this Green Drop Report. We have been told that only 32 of South Africa's sewage treatment works have been able to comply with the criteria for Green Drop certification, with 10 of those plants being in the Western Cape. These figures, if they are correct, are startling.
The South African public is entitled to transparency. It is entitled to know the threats with which it is faced and, more importantly, it is entitled to know exactly what action is being and will be taken to address these threats. The DA has raised numerous questions in this regard with no reply to most and has publicly called for the release of the Green Drop Report by the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs, and we hereby reiterate that call. [Applause.]