By Akani Nkuna
The DA has lambasted municipalities across South Africa for failing to deal decisively with the water crisis, saying it was unacceptable that 47% of water treatment systems are in a critical or poor state while 68% of sanitation treatment systems are in high or critical risk.
The party called on the government to publicly name and shame municipalities failing their communities and urged the Minister of Water and Sanitation Pemmy Majodina to consider taking delinquent municipalities to court if necessary, demonstrating to South Africans how they have been let down.
The party’s deputy spokesperson on Water and Sanitation Stephen Moore said that South African municipalities could not collect sufficient revenue, in part due to neglected infrastructure, and the funds collected were poorly managed, affecting their capacity to deliver quality services.
Moore was addressing parliament on Tuesday in response to a statement made by Majodina on water security in the country.
“The reality is that services like water and sanitation have become luxuries in our economy, where the ‘haves’ and ‘have-nots’ grow further apart,” he said.
Moore further said that it was the democratic right of South Africans to have access to safe, reliable drinking water in their homes, dignified sanitation facilities, and clean living environments, free from sewage pollution.
“We are entitled to quality, reliable drinking water in our homes. We are entitled to humane sanitation facilities. We are entitled to live in clean communities, not environments filled with raw sewage. We are entitled to see our taxes and rates managed effectively, contributing to the upkeep of essential infrastructure,” said Moore.
Majodina conceded in Parliament on Tuesday that South Africa was facing water distribution crisis but denied there was a scarcity of water in the country.
Majodina further highlighted that South Africa’s water availability was under threat mainly due to escalating demand driven by economic and population growth, urbanization, and inefficiencies, compounded by climate change, heatwaves, and environmental degradation.
“South Africa need to change their behavior and treat water like it is a scarce resource that we have. This means that municipalities must fix leaks in their water distribution systems. We cannot afford to be throwing away almost half of water that is supplied to communities,” said Majodina.
South Africa water and sanitation infrastructure faces significant challenges, with nearly half of treatment systems in disrepair and substantial losses due to leakages.
“47% of our water treatment systems are in a critical or poor state. Only 14% of our water treatment systems are in good or excellent condition, a standard that should be the baseline. 68% of our sanitation treatment systems are in high or critical risk. We lose 41% of our water to leaks,” said Moore.
Moore has also called on Majodina to bring all those implicated in the mismanagement of resources in municipalities to be subjected to the most stringent punitive measures.
“Minister, you know which municipalities are failing our people. Name them. Hold them accountable. Take the delinquent ones to court if necessary and show South Africans how they have been let down,” he said.
Moore said that cooperation across sister departments along with National government, the Presidency, COGTA, Department of Water and Sanitation and the National Treasury ought to be feasible in order to save the country from disaster.
The DA has also come out to state its support for the measures which the minister proposed to deal with the crisis, including water-use restrictions, incentives for better municipal management, ring-fencing of water revenues for infrastructure, and new licensing requirements for water providers to ensure accountability.
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