Picture: Water scarcity remains a challenge in Warrenton and Rustenburg
By OBAKENG MAJE
The Economic Freedom Fighters(EFF) in North West lauded women from Boitekong Township, near Rustenburg for their courageous action after they went to do their laundry at the Rustenburg Local Municipality offices.
As a way of ventilating their grievances about lack of access to running water, women were seen on a video that went viral on various social media platforms doing their laundry at the municipal offices.
The EFF provincial spokesperson, Fanon Moema said residents have been faced with dry taps for seven months, despite many undertakings. He further said the residents have long apprised the municipality about the issue, yet there are no signs of improvement.
“At the heart of the problem, is the alliance of the municipal administrators and the ANC political elites in the department of Infrastructure and Technical Services. The municipality in question has failed to deliver running, clean and drinkable water, develop and maintain infrastructure.
“The municipality has recorded unprecedented levels of infrastructural collapse. The three years of sewer spillages in Tlhabane, is a proof lack of appetite to deal decisively with the service delivery crisis. Quite evidently, the municipality has no concrete plan on how to proactively prevent and/or address infrastructural collapse,” said Moema.
He added that, therefore, the residents were justified to engage in the protest action and do their laundry at the municipal offices. Moema said as the EFF, they will hold accountable those who use the municipality as business ticket as opposed to upholding good governance and delivering services to the people.
Meanwhile, the chairperson of Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation, Mr Robert Mashego said they have received petitions regarding water shortages from residents in Warrenton in Northern Cape and Rustenburg in North West. Mashego said even though they have received petitions in these two areas, they agreed that, there is a need for a broader discussion on solutions to water shortages in many areas in the country.
“We have resolved to give the Departments of Water and Sanitation and of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) 14 days to respond and find solutions to the water shortages in Rustenburg and Warrenton.
“The petitions are an important tool to ensure oversight and the committee will use these petitions to seeks answers from all spheres of government that are constitutionally mandated to provide quality water to the people of South Africa,” said Mashego.
He said they will send the petitions to the Department of Water and Sanitation and the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs to get answers for the residents of those areas.
Mashego said the committee highlighted that, there remains a concerning gap within the water value chain, with some stakeholders such as municipalities failing to deliver on their mandate.
“The decision to include the Department of Cooperative Governance in solving water shortages is to ensure that there is joint accountability and that all stakeholders contribute, as per their mandate, to resolve this challenge.
“Also, the committee highlighted that the District Development Model (DDM), which seeks to integrate planning and delivery of services, should be exploited by all spheres of government to ensure collaboration in the delivery of quality services,” he said.
The Guardian 