Hours after a drafted petition on the continuous water woes was released by Democratic Alliance Councillor Thys J v Rensburg, hundreds of signatures had been collected as residents made their stand against the uThukela Municipality.
“The continuous ongoing problems of water services to its residents should be addressed and the problems solved,” said residents, who had made their way to uThukela District Municipality to hand over the signed petition and memorandum.
For weeks now, residents within Acaciavale, Rosepark, Chesty Place, and Ezakheni have been without water. Residents, individuals, councillors and the Ladysmith Al-Imdaad Foundation worked tirelessly to distribute water to the affected areas. “It was rough and difficult days for all of us as we not only struggled with lockdown, looting and flooding, but the lack of water service,” said a resident.
Councillor Thys J v Rensburg said: “The uThukela District Municipality has for a very long time failed to provide a continuous and reliable supply of clean, safe, usable water to many communities in the urban, peri-urban and rural areas of uThukela. Water outages are frequent and can last from hours to days, to months. The quality of water is also of concern as it sometimes has turbidity.”
Residents are hopeful that the memorandum will be addressed by uThukela officials and that it will be answered. “We are hopeful and it is just great to know that once you call upon the community to stand together, they will.”
The memorandum highlighted the following:
1. UThukela has been placed under administration by the KZN Provincial Government for various periods in the last decade, yet the situation with water services, and provision, has not improved and is indeed getting worse.
2. The uThukela Budget for 2022/23 reflects an unfunded excess expenditure.
3. UThukela owes Umgeni Water R279 million for bulk water supply services provided.
4. UThukela owes the Dept of Water and Sanitation R44 million.
5. The uThukela IDP 2022/2023 – 2026/2027 reflects that staff expenditure makes up 48% of total expenditure.
6. The uThukela IDP reflects that Water Distribution losses amount to 68% of all water purifiers. That more potable water is lost than is consumed.
7. UThukela has written off water consumer debts of R637 million. This is a result of the previous ANC administration, as well as the administrators, having failed to enforce uThukela’s Debt Collection Policy.
8. The 2020/21 Auditor General report contains concerns about uThukela’s being a Going Concern as its liabilities exceed its assets by R361 million.
9. The weak financial standing of uThukela shows how ineffective the Administrative Process was/is in improving the standing and delivery of basic services to the residents of uThukela.
10. Unless urgent and far-reaching action is taken to manage uThukela properly and professionally, the residents of uThukela will continue to endure many more years of downward financial spirals where business and residents leave the region for areas that can supply reliable basic services like water.
11. That the semigration of business and residents from uThukela to better-serviced municipalities will lead to the final collapse of this once viable industrialised economy. The Industrial hub of Ezakheni has turned into a ghost town as businesses disinvest and go to regions that can supply basic services like water.
12. UThukela performed dismally in the latest Green Drop Report, and this is also very concerning as the uThukela River has its origins in the uThukela region. Many urban communities downstream will thus suffer as the uThukela District Municipality pollutes water systems that millions of KZN residents rely on.
13. The government has spent hundreds of millions on the Driefontein Complex Water Distribution reticulation infrastructure that is currently ‘empty’ because it has failed to implement the desperately needed Spioenkop bulk water supply project that was approved by the Department of Water Affairs in 2010. This bulk water supply would have catered for the current uThukela and Driefontein bulk water requirements that are now not being met, and that leads to such extensive misery in communities of the uThukela District.
14. The supply of clean drinking water is enshrined in the Bill of Rights.
We the undersigned being the Community members, Residents, and Various Associations and Associated economic sectors in uThukela, therefore, request that:
A) National Government intervene urgently to ensure that the basic human rights of the supply of potable water are provided to all the people in uThukela KZN; and
B)The Minister of Water and Sanitation acts swiftly to, within 14 days of this petition, provide high-level feedback including implementation dates to the uThukela community on a plan of action to bring the condition of all water supply networks up to a desired and stable level.
