THE drought-stricken Chris Hani District Municipality council had a discussion around the possibilities of a public-private partnership between itself and local private businesses to help fast-track the long overdue Xonxa Dam water augmentation project.
The discussions took place on Friday when the district authority in charge of the water and sanitation functions convened its ordinary council meeting.
Opening the discussions, Mayor Wongama Gela said his office was approached by the Let’s Talk Komani forum, made up of several non-governmental organisations to raise their concerns around the fast reduction of water at the Waterdown Dam and the slow pace of completion of the Xonxa Dam project.
The R546 million project, launched in 2014, was designed to supplement water supplies to Komani whose main water source, the Bonkolo Dam, dried out due to drought.
Amid the ongoing drought, Komani currently depends on the Waterdown dam in Whittlesea located about 60km away.
This dam itself is said to be on a worrying level of 20%.
Gela admitted that the Xonxa project has long over run its timelines and costs and thus impacts directly on the social and economic well-being of its intended beneficiaries.
He said the project has been plugged by inefficiencies and ineffective project management.
“The Let’s Talk Komani group comprised predominantly of and initiated by local prominent business leaders, are proposing to volunteer their skills and time for free in the spirit of the Thuma Mina campaign to assist with project management and support through their extended networks countrywide,” said Gela.
He said Ken Clark, who is the chairperson and founder of Twizza Group, was volunteering his time and experience at no cost to the municipality until the completion of the project.
“He sees the need for this role as our region has experienced a number of delays in the past few months and believes it is possible for us to avert the looming water crisis together.
“But this proposal will need to meet certain conditions and processes and before a public-private partnership is concluded, the municipality must conduct a feasibility study and solicit comments from the national Treasury, the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Department of, Department of Water and Sanitation and the local community among others,” he added.
However, during the council discussions some councillors questioned Clark’s intentions, with some saying he wanted to “substitute the government”.
“Let’s Talk Komani seems to have a political interest and ulterior motives,” said Councillor Yanga Zicina.
“This isn’t transparent enough for us to take a resolution on,” said Zicina.
Mayor of Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality, Ray Shweni, said the proposal needed to be fine-tuned as it seemed to only intend to benefit Komani instead of the entire district.
“For now this is an intent that needs to be interrogated further beyond the mayoral committee and the mayor,” he said.
Councillor Madoda Papiyana said before the council could resolve on the matter, they first needed to see the terms and conditions that would come with Clark’s assistance.
The speaker of the council, Mxolisi Koyo, said it was the municipality’s weaknesses that invited the private sector to step up.
“We need to be extra vigilant. We need to embrace local businesses and people but nothing is free in this world,” said Koyo.
The council noted the proposal and said it needed to be discussed further before any decision is ta-ken.
