NELSON Mandela Bay is currently in the grip of a devastating drought that has seen the combined dam levels supplying the metropole drop below 20%.
Retief Odendaal, MPL and Shadow MEC for Finance in a media statement said despite this, the previous coalition during its two years in government from 2018 to 2020, failed to spend conditional grants given to the metropole for drought mitigation measures, totalling R188 million rand.
“National Treasury has subsequently refused to roll over these funds. A capable state would never have allowed matters to deteriorate to this level and would have ensured that the grant funding was spent in the first place,” said Odendaal.
“I will be engaging the Finance MEC, Mlungisi Mvoko, to intercede with National Treasury on Nelson Mandela Bay Metropole’s behalf, as a matter of urgency, and request that it reconsiders its decision not to roll over the funds.”
Any funding that can be used to address the huge backlog in water infrastructure maintenance, or put other drought mitigation measures in place, will be a huge benefit to the residents of the metropole.
“Funding to tackle the drought is not a nice to have, it is a must have to safeguard water security in the metropole and to avoid a possible Day Zero.
“Access to water is also a basic human right and this cannot be denied to the residents of the metropole.”
If the request is not granted, it will mean the municipality will have to redirect funding from other critical projects, and will put further financial strain on the metropole, which according to Odendaal, has been run into the ground by the previous coalition.
“It is unacceptable that the residents of the Metro have to suffer owing to the mismanagement. I have also engaged the Metro’s MMC for Budget and Treasury, DA Cllr Malcolm Figg, to look at what funding can be prioritised to ensure water availability.
“Water is life and we will not stop fighting to ensure that the constitutional right of residents to have access to water is protected,” said Odendaal.
issued by: DA Eastern Cape
Legislature team
