CoGTA owes rand water over 21 million rand

08 Jun 2015 in Press Releases

Democratic Alliance statement by:

Bosman Grobler, MPL

DA Spokesperson on CoGTA:

CoGTA owes rand water over 21 million rand

25 May 2015

Release: immediate

The department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs owes Rand Water over R21 million. This was revealed by CoGTA in response to a written question by the Democratic Alliance.

This comes after the department failed to pay Rand Water after it commissioned a water pipeline in the Victor Khanye Municipality.

In its response, the department added that this debt derives from the portion of the provincial government’s contribution towards R171 million costs for the bulk pipeline in Victor Khanye.

CoGTA is now seeking assistance from the provincial treasury in order to settle this outstanding amount with Rand Water. The department said this amount can only be paid when sufficient allocation of the budget has been adjusted.

According to the department, the non-payment of it debt to Rand Water has no bearing on water delivery and quality thereof.

The people of Victor Khanye previously had an outbreak of water-borne diseases such as Cholera and Typhoid that claimed many lives; bulk pipeline therefore, came as a relief and an alternative against the unsafe underground water which were consumed at the time.

The DA will continue to monitor this situation to ensure that the people of Victor Khanye are treated fairly and are not punished by CoGTA’s debt to Rand Water.

Media enquiries:

Bosman Grobler, MPL

DA Spokesperson on CoGTA

083 697 0747

Portia Adams

Communication Manager

082 319 6666

Sydney Masinga

Media Officer

060 971 4297