Note to Editors: Please find attached soundbites in English and Afrikaans by Cllr Cornel Dreyer.
The DA in the Ngaka Modiri Molema District Municipality is concerned over the municipality’s incompetence to supply water to residents.
Residents of Lehurutse, Zeerust, and Groot Marico town have suffered intermittent water shortages for a month. Many schools in Lehuruste were forced to close due to the current water interruptions because of the associated health risk to teachers and learners of exposure to poor hygiene and sanitation since toilets would be unable to flush.
Zeerust and Groot Marico are currently stumbling through its fourth week of irregular water supply with certain areas of towns being completely dry for three weeks.
The irregular water supply is mainly due to the poor management of pumpstations by the District Municipality, a problem compounded by the current Stage 6 Eskom rolling blackouts.
The Ramothsere Moiloa Local Municipality procured generators to service pumpstations, but since the local municipality is operating on an unfunded budget, it cannot absorb the related diesel costs to run generators for up to 12 hours a day.
The DA has on numerous occasions written to the District’s Municipal Manager, Alan Losaba, and the Director of Infrastructure, Mohammed Rasool, to try to clarify mandated authorities and areas of responsibilities as well as the accompanying budget to find a permanent solution that would restore water supply, but our efforts have been ignored.
As a solution, the DA requested the District Municipality to either take up their responsibility as the authority to supply bulk water Ramotshere Moiloa and render proper services, or to delegate the authority to Ramotshere Moiloa with the accompanying budget. This proposal, however, was also disregarded.
The DA will now write to the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu, requesting him to urgently intervene in this ongoing crisis and determine who should be responsible to render the bulk water supply services and to assist the responsible institution to ensure the supply of water to residents.
It is only the DA that acknowledges water as a fundamental necessity that is protected in the Constitution.
The DA will keep fighting to make sure that everyone receives the services to which they are legally entitled.