The Democratic Alliance (DA) has begun establishing rapid
response committees to address the total collapse of water and sanitation
services provided by the Chris Hani District Municipality (CHDM).
On 3 November the first of three Town Hall meetings regarding this matter was held in
Cradock, in the Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality.
The CHDM is responsible
for the provision of water and sanitation services to the local municipalities
of Inxuba Yethemba, Enoch Mgijima, Intsika Yethu, Emalahleni, Engcobo and
Sakhisizw.
According to a media statement issued by Nqaba Bhanga, DA Eastern Cape Provincial Leader, non-operational wastewater
treatment works, and pump stations, have led to raw sewage flowing unabatedly
into the Great Fish River and through the streets of towns such as Cradock,
Middelburg and Komani.
“Residents of these municipalities also
regularly have to make do without water when their taps run dry for days on
end.
“The Great Fish River is
one of the biggest sources of freshwater supply in the Eastern Cape and
provides drinking water to more than two million people. It is criminal that
the incompetent CHDM is knowingly polluting this important water resource and
doing nothing about it,” Bhanga said in the statement.
The meeting on 3 November was
attended by 100 community members, and a water and sanitation rapid response
committee was established to find solutions to this problem. Similar rapid
response committees were established at a meeting on 4 November in Komani and on 5 November’s meeting in Elliot. “Representatives of all local municipalities will
be elected to serve on these committees – with the process for Inxuba Yethemba
already complete.”
The committees will focus
on the following discussion points:
- The water provision competency should remain with the
CHDM. - The water provision competency should revert back to
local municipalities. - The Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) must
appoint a Water Services Committee in terms of Section 51 of the Water
Services Act of 1997. This would effectively mean that the water and
sanitation competency would be removed from the CHDM. This time can then
be used to prepare the CHDM, or alternatively the local municipality, to
capacitate themselves to again take over the competency in the future. - The Amatola Water Board must take over the water
provision competency in the Chris Hani District.
“Appointing a Water
Services Committee is the DA’s preferred option, and we will be pushing hard
for this to become a reality. If the DWS refuses to intervene, we will be
forced to revert to the courts to find a solution to this issue.
“Access to clean drinking water and sanitation are basic human
rights, and recently the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) heeded
the DA’s call to investigate the collapse of water and sanitation in the CHDM.”
In September the DA
received documentation regarding the failures of the CHDM from the DWS, after
successfully launching a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA)
application in July 2020.
“The documentation clearly
states that the CHDM is not fulfilling its water and sanitation provision
competency to residents. It also shows the municipality has ignored letters,
notices, briefs, pre-directives and directives from the DWS without any fear of
being brought to book.”
