The intervention of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) in the Ugu District water crisis has been met with great sighs of relief from residents who continue to suffer through the lack of water in the area.
The department, last week, announced that CoGTA MEC, Sipho Hlomuka, has transferred R19 million in grant funding to the Ugu District Municipality as part of efforts to improve the provision of water within the region. Department spokesperson, Senzelwe Mzila, said: “The money will be used for repairing the Bhobhoyi water scheme (St Helen’s Rock) which requires major upgrades to the tune of R15 million. The rest of the grant is for the drilling of 12 boreholes in the uMuziwabantu and uMzumbe local municipalities.”
Mzila said the grant follows a rigorous assessment of water infrastructure that was done by technicians from CoGTA in conjunction with their counterparts from the district which preceded a special meeting of the Ugu Water Inter-Ministerial task team.
“The reports tabled by the municipality before the task team shows that currently, demand exceeds supply across all the water systems within the district. The municipality proposed a mix-use approach that requires more investment in boreholes, spring protection, rainwater harvesting and desalination to complement the conventional methods of water supply. The task team resolved for the Ugu District to embark on an extensive outreach programme to communities to raise awareness about the water challenges and to enforce water-saving measures which include the reporting of water leaks. The task team also called for greater transparency between the district and communities on water provision,” Mzila said.
The recommendations and interventions were welcomed by the residents of Ugu. A cautious resident, Sihle Gumede, said he applauds the department but feared that the money will not be enough to rescue Ugu.
He said: “This has been an ongoing problem for a number of years. In fact, some areas of Ugu don’t even have water. To think that in this day and age there is a generation growing up without running water at their homes is ridiculous.”
He added: “The money has always been there and it’s just people misusing it. Hopefully with the department now involved there will be some sort of improvement and actual work done to repair the infrastructure to allow us to get water in our homes.”
The Democratic Alliance said, in statement, that large parts of the Ugu District Municipality continue to have severe water outages, affecting healthcare facilities and residents alike, sometimes for days on end.
“Ugu’s financial problems are also impacting on water service delivery as the municipality continues to receive qualified audits and unfunded budgets.”
During the special meeting, MEC Hlomuka directed the municipality to convene a special council meeting to consider the election of Portfolio Committee Chairpersons and for the municipality to fast-track the appointment of the CFO.
MEC Hlomuka also raised concerns with the delays in the implementation of the upgrades to the Eskom power lines in the Umtamvuna Pump Station. The MEC called for the fast-tracking of the project which will improve security of supply. The project is expected to be completed by June 2022.
