The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the uThukela District Municipality will look in great detail at the uThukela Municipal budget, which will be proposed for the 2022/23 financial year.
In a statement released by DA uThukela District Councillor, Thys van Rensburg, it was said that this will be done in order to highlight and reject any and all wasteful expenditure that does not contribute directly to the provision of its core mandate of the supply of water and wastewater services.
“During a high-level stakeholder engagement in Newcastle on Friday, 28 January, KZN CoGTA MEC Hlomuka reported that uThukela District Municipality owed Umgeni Water R279 million in outstanding debt for bulk water supply. A further R44 million is owed to the Department of Water and Sanitation, making the total R323 million,” said Cllr van Rensburg.
He added that to make matters worse, the current ANC-approved uThukela budget is unfunded by a massive R194 million.
“Added to the unfunded budget of R194 million is a further R268 million in accumulated irregular and fruitless expenditure that must be recovered from the budget.”
The figures, originated from the last audited statements, show and explain why there is no money to maintain the water reticulation systems and the almost daily water interruptions for residents of towns like Ezakeni, Ladysmith, Estcourt and Bergville.
“It also explains why the Spioenkop bulk water project approved more than ten years ago has still not had a single sod turned.”
Residents of the uThukela District have been suffering ongoing water outages and interruptions for many years.
“The bankrupt state of the uThukela District Municipality, this failure to provide the constitutionally enshrined basic right of water, is undoubtedly going to continue for many years to come. Drastic action is required to cut overhead expenses and other wasteful expenditures to ensure that all water consumers who are not indigent, whether they live in a town or a communal area, pay up in full and that the massive water losses in the system that were identified many years ago are dealt with.
“During the height of the Covid pandemic, many residents, including local health facilities, had to endure many days without water provisions. At the time I wrote to the South African Human Rights Commission to investigate this abject failure of a basic human right,” said Cllr van Rensburg.
