Note to Broadcasters: Please find linked soundbites in English and Afrikaans by CJ Steyl MPL.
The DA notes the investigative report released yesterday by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC), confirming the fact that North West municipalities fail to deliver services and that these systemic failures, specifically in relation to water and electricity supply, sanitation and refuse collection services and road maintenance, violate the basic Human Rights of residents.
The report found that the North West Provincial Government and 14 municipalities are in breach of their constitutional and legislative mandates.
The DA has long maintained that local government in the North West has collapsed. The HRC Report supports this claim.
Almost three decades of continuous failed ANC governance and the deliberate programme of cadre deployment to erode and undermine state capacity and to facilitate fraud and corruption have seen the total collapse of bulk and basic infrastructure throughout the North West.
As a natural consequence, the delivery of basic services has either completely collapsed or is so erratic that it cannot even be considered as service delivery.
The persistent lack of water and electricity supply, dilapidated roads and crumbling infrastructure directly contribute to the collapsed provincial economy, recording the highest unemployment rate in the country at 52.2%.
More than a million North West residents who can work can’t find a job.
Poor sanitation services not only pollute communities and expose residents to disease, but they also poison fresh water sources. This pollution also threatens the viability of commercial agriculture as well as subsistence and communal farming, risking animal health and degrading soil quality.
The dilapidated road infrastructure hinders the free movement of people and the free flow of goods and services, exponentially increasing the cost of living in an already depressed economy.
Poor roads negatively impact the response times of emergency and policing services, further contributing to the general violation of the Human rights of residents at the hands of the ANC-led government.
Sadly, this is not the first HRC report into failed North West local government. And while the ANC remains in government, it will not be the last.
While the HRC report makes for depressing reading, not all is lost. There is always hope.
North West residents can use the power of their vote in next year’s election and reject the failures of the ANC and vote in DA-led municipal governments that will immediately begin to rebuild and repair infrastructure, deliver water and sanitation services to all communities, ensure consistent refuse collection and spend every cent of public money towards improving the lives of every resident.
When residents in North West have water in their taps when they want it. Electricity when they need it. When communities are free from sewage pollution and the roads are well maintained, and cities, towns and villages are clean from refuse, investment will come, the provincial economy will grow, and jobs will be created.
That is the DA difference in government. We did it in the Western Cape, and in Midvaal, Gauteng. We did it in Kouga, Eastern Cape, and in uMngeni, KwaZulu-Natal, and we are ready to do it in North West in 2026.