THE GATHERING 2026: City of Cape Town denies it’s facing an ocean ‘sewage calamity’

In a lively session centred on nationwide water shortages and sewage pollution, moderator Pieter-Louis Myburgh challenged local and national government officials on their approaches to water security in the country.

Gregg Oelofse, a coastal and environmental manager with the City of Cape Town, speaking on a panel at Daily Maverick’s The Gathering 2026 in Cape Town on Friday, 11 September, denied that the metro municipality was facing a “sewage calamity” in the surrounding ocean.

He noted that the City had to treat or dispose of nearly 60% of the water it supplied to residents, and that if such large volumes of water continued to be used and polluted at current volumes, then “we should not be surprised to find evidence of it in our natural environment” despite the city’s treatment measures.

“I’m not suggesting for a moment that it’s okay to find pollution in our environment,” he said.

But he added that residents also needed to be reminded that they relied on the environment to assimilate their waste streams, and that this capacity could not be exceeded.

He also denied claims that the City had adopted a policy to “deny, denigrate or deflect” criticism about ocean sewage pollution, or that its data on beach water quality was either inaccurate or not up to date at times.

“I object to the claim that we manipulate the data,” he said, also attributing some of the high sewage readings to periods of high rainfall.

Oelofse disputed moderator Pieter-Louis Myburgh’s complaint that Cape Town surfers in some areas were literally swimming in poo, noting that he was also a regular surfer.

“We have an extraordinary coastline… It’s not without problems… but for the vast majority of time it’s absolutely fantastic. There’s no reason not to surf or dive or swim. Go out and enjoy it.”

Also speaking on the panel, Neil Macleod, the former head of eThekwini’s water and sanitation department, called for a return to accountable and competent municipal water departments, but said finances were not the problem.

“There are so many reasons [for this situation], but money is not one of them,” he said.

One of the central reasons for the failures lay in how these departments were structured. Previously, he said, using Durban as an example, water was treated as a separate business entity, with clear management and accountability structures.

The officials now take decisions in multibillion-rand water business units that lack qualified personnel. In some cases, water board members or managers did not even have a matric certificate, he said.

“You will find a politician or an office bearer in a political party occupying a junior position [but] with the ability to tell the boss what to do... [They will say], ‘If you don’t do what I say, I will go the PEC or the REC’, threatening to get senior managers removed.