DURBAN – Residents of the UThukela district municipality in KwaZulu-Natal are closer to getting to the bottom of a five-year-long water crisis that has hit industrial hubs like Ladysmith, Estcourt, Colenso, and tourism-reliant towns like Winterton and Bergville.
This is as the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has intervened and it is about to start a public hearing that will, among other things, force municipal officials to account for the crisis.
The inquiry was sparked by a 2020 complaint which was laid by Thys Janse van Rensburg, a local resident.
NEWS: The SA Human Rights Commission has stepped in to get to the bottom of the UThukela water crisis that has been running for 5 years and has crippled towns like Ladysmith, Estcourt, Bergville and Winterton. The commission is soon expected to kick off public hearings. @IOL
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) July 14, 2022
This was after the crisis started hitting critical assets like hospitals at the height of the Covid-19 where water was badly needed to fight the pandemic.
The complaint then sparked a petition which was signed by hundreds of residents who were concerned that nothing was being done.
According to the petition, which was sent to President Cyril Ramaphosa, the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu, KZN Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC, Sipho Hlomuka and the Speaker and municipal manager of Uthukela District Municipality, the water outages are frequent and can last from hours, to days, to months.
Furthermore, it was alleged in the petition that the quality of water is also of concern, as it sometimes had turbidity (cloudy).
“We the undersigned, being members of the community, of the Uthukela District Municipality in KZN, present this memorandum on the following grounds, and with the requests listed:
“We note that: 1: Uthukela has been placed under aministration by the KZN Provincial Government for various periods in the last decade, yet the situation with water services, and provision, has not improved, and is indeed getting worse.
@2: The Uthukela Budget for 2022/23 reflects an unfunded excess expenditure. 3: Uthukela owes Umgeni Water R279 million for bulk water supply services provided. 4: Uthukela owes the Department of Water and Sanitation R44m. 5: The Uthukela IDP 2022/2023/2026/2027 reflects that the staff expenditure makes up 48% of total expenditure (see page 278 under “Audited ratios”). 6: The Uthukela IDP reflects that water distribution losses amount to 68% of all water purified. That more potable water is lost than is consumed. 7: Uthukela has written off water consumer debts in of R637m. This as a result of the previous ANC administration. as well as the administrators having failed to enforce Uthukela’s debt collection policy,” reads part of the petition which was sent out in May this year.
Initially, the Human Rights Commission was set to kick off its hearing on July 4 and run with it until July 15. However, that was shelved and it is not clear why.
“Please note that the Inquiry begins today till the 15th of July 2022 Should you wish to email your complaints, and submissions of your sufferings kindly use the reference below in the subject line and email to…” reads the last memo to residents from the commission.
Janse van Rensburg told IOL that the hearings were supposed to start last week, but they were postponed.
“I have been informed that they were supposed to sit last week and that it was postponed. We have submitted our stuff and they haven’t told us what the new dates are,” Janse van Rensburg said on Thursday.
The district municipality, which is currently run by the IFP after ousting the ANC, did not comment when asked what exactly sparked the water crisis.
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