For over two years, the Mogale City Local Municipality in western Gauteng has been discharging tens of thousands of liters of raw sewage into local rivers daily. In places where the river is inaccessible, the municipality has excavated a large open pit in a residential zone to dispose of raw effluent adjacent to the N14 highway. This has also led to significant pollution in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, harming tourism in the region. The municipality’s sewage reticulation infrastructure has collapsed. Lerato Mbele spoke to Paleoanthropologist & Wits University Curator of Fossil and Rock Collections, Dr. Bernhard Zipfel