The Nelson Mandela Bay Metro might not be able to apply for further drought relief funding as the local State of Disaster declaration has lapsed.
According to a statement sent out by the DA, this declaration was only made in November 2019 and according to the Disaster Management Act, it lapses after three months and needs to then be extended by the municipality on a month-to-month basis. This means that the November declaration would have expired in February already and no extension has been gazetted.
DA NMB spokesperson for infrastructure and engineering, Masixole Zinto, said that he had written a letter to the acting mayor, Tshonono Buyeye, and requested feedback on why the local State of Disaster had not been extended.
“The metro stands to lose substantial drought funding if this has not happened.
“If the metro is not in a State of Local Disaster, it will make it impossible to apply for relief funding from the provincial or national government, this while Day Zero is still approaching,” Zinto said.
According to the latest figures, the combined dam levels in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro are down to almost 23%.
The Kouga dam currently stands at 14,58%, the Churchill at 73,62%, the Impofu dam at 16,55%, Loerie dam has 19,96% capacity and Groendal 38,75%.
The total combined level of the dams is 23.77%, down from over 28% in February this year.
“It is also extremely concerning that, despite the rapidly diminishing water supplies, the metro has not been proactive in dealing with water leaks or other water-saving measures,” Zinto added.
“Instead, MMC (member of the mayor committee) for infrastructure and engineering, Andile Lungisa, has stated in the media that the Covid-19 pandemic sweeping through the country has severely hampered the metro’s ability to fix water leaks and that because of the national lockdown, which started in March, water usage at homes has increased.
“The fact is that additional plumbers could have been appointed in February already, long before the lockdown.
“The argument that water consumption in households has increased, is mitigated by the fact that water consumption at local businesses, which have been forced to close their doors during the lockdown, would have decreased,” he emphasised.
Zinto added that he also requested Buyeye to give clarity on the lack of progress in spending the R200 million in drought aid, which the metro now stands to forfeit and to provide the metro’s current rate of daily water consumption. “The ongoing drought in the Eastern Cape is plaguing a number of municipalities in the province.
“Despite this, the Provincial State of Disaster has also been allowed to lapse.
“This means that the Eastern Cape stands to lose more than R600 million in relief funding if the provincial government does not extend its Provincial State of Disaster declaration.
The DA’s Eastern Cape shadow MEC for finance, Retief Odendaal, has written to the Premier of the Eastern Cape, Oscar Mabuyane, and requested him to urgently intervene and extend the Provincial State of Disaster.
“The metro and the province simply cannot afford to run out of water while Covid-19 cases are on the rise, as proper sanitation is of the utmost importance in the effort to save lives.”
At the time of going to print, Lungisa and head of the metro’s infrastructure and engineering department, Walter Shaidi, could still not be reached for comment.
Municipal spokesperson, Mthubanzi Mniki, said that the mayor did indeed sign an application to extend the metro’s state of disaster declaration.
However, he added that he did not know if the application was sent or if a reply was received, as he did not have the relevant documents at hand.
