The Freedom Front Plus has criticised the wastage of over R3 billion worth of potable water in Free State municipalities over the past five years due to leakages and illegal connections in Free State municipalities.
Saki Mokoena, MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), disclosed these figures in response to a query from the FF Plus in the Free State Legislature.
Several Free State towns did not have water during the festive season because infrastructure has not been maintained or upgraded during the last 30 years of ANC rule.
“The MEC’s reply makes it clear that the ANC is utterly unable to maintain infrastructure,” said the party’s spokesperson, Armand Cloete.
“Free State residents are bearing the brunt of the ruling party’s failures. If water in the Free State is lost at this rate, the province may face serious social instability in the foreseeable future.”
Cloete said the FF Plus finds it strange that the MEC’s reply made no mention of the Mangaung Metro’s water losses and will insist in a follow-up question that the Metro’s figures be disclosed as well.
According to the FF Plus’s calculations, Mangaung’s water losses may amount to as much as R1,6 billion during this period.
The other big culprit when it comes to water losses is Matjhabeng, which let more that R1,8 billion worth of clean water go to waste over the last five years.
Both municipalities could have used the squandered funds to construct at least one brand-new water purification plant each and pay off their astronomical debt to the Vaal Central Water Board as well.
In addition, some municipalities failed to submit financial statements, which indicate water losses, for a number of years. So, the water losses are far greater than reported.
“It is a crime to waste water on this scale in a water-scarce province while residents are plagued by frequent water outages,” said Cloete.
“The FF Plus will insist in the relevant Portfolio Committee that the Department and Premier, Maqueen Leshoa-Mathae, explain what each municipality plans to do to curb water losses.”
MEC Mokoena responded to the FF Plus question, noting ongoing engagement with municipalities through the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) Coordination Forum on a quarterly basis.
“The municipalities were engaged and still being engaged on a quarterly basis via Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG)Coordination forum where all MIG implementation plans are interrogated when they (municipality) and plan for MTEF period.”
“This is a condition set within MIG Division of Revenue Act framework where it says: extent of non-revenue water is more than 30 percent and not decreasing from year-to year, the Municipality shall be determined to be failing to manage its water supply.”
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