By Cllr. Landi Schneider-Breekzke – DA Councillor in eMalahleni Local Municipality
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is considering approaching the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to intervene after learning that residents of eMalahleni Municipality have been without water for nearly a week.
Many areas in the municipality have been without water for up to five consecutive days and the only official communication from officials responsible for water supply is that: “Messages sent to the Municipal Manager remain unanswered.”
This type of response is unacceptable – taking into consideration that the provision of clean water is a basic human rights guaranteed by Section 27 (1)(b) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. Five days without water is a violation of this Section.
The DA has learned that the shortage of water supply is because of the municipality’s failure to maintain infrastructure and due to low reservoir levels. There are also water leaks that have not been repaired two weeks after having been reported.
This is unacceptable and is dereliction of duty by all those involved. It remains a concern that during a period where there are shortages of water to fulfil the City’s constitutional obligations to its citizens, water leaks are not repaired timeously.
The most humane thing to do is for the Municipal Manager, Sizwe Mayisela, and Mayor, Linah Malatjie, to take residents into their confidence and explain the real reasons behind the water shortages. But they are not doing so.
We therefore request that the Mayor and the Manager issue a statement detailing the following:
• The residents need to know if the municipality has adopted some form of water shedding to certain areas – and how often and how long will these outages last for;
• What steps are being taken to restore the water supply to all areas and when is it anticipated that the supply will be restored;
• Why regular bulletins are not released daily explaining progress being made to rectify the water supply; and
• Why water tankers are not delivering water to those areas that have experienced water outages for 12 hours or more.
We request immediate action or the DA will be referring the matter to the SAHRC for action. All our citizens are entitled to sufficient water at all times.