The Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation, Lindiwe Sisulu, has committed to attend to the water crisis and looming Day Zero in Nelson Mandela Bay on an emergency basis.
Minister Sisulu made this commitment yesterday, 7 July 2020, in response to parliamentary questions I submitted.
The DA in Nelson Mandela has previously written to the Minister to request her intervention as the ANC-led coalition of corruption government seems to lack the capacity and political will to address the water crisis in the Metro.
NMB’s daily water consumption is still at 300 megalitres per day. The Metro is, therefore, extracting more than the recommended 250 megalitres per day.
The main reason for this overconsumption is the Municipality’s total lack of communication to create public awareness.
Compounding these problems is the Metro’s inability to spend R30 million in drought relief funding and allowing the local state of disaster to lapse.
A Kirkwood Water Canal that feeds the Nooitgedacht water treatment works collapsed on 17 May 2017. The canal was temporarily reinstated but the actual repairs are yet to be done more than 3 years after the initial damages to the canal.
Temporary patchwork was done by the Department of Water Affairs, but this is not a long-term solution. If the canal fails the Metro will be deprived of water flowing from the Gariep Dam to the Nooitgedacht treatment works.
Minister Sisulu confirmed that she will not allow a big Metro such as Nelson Mandela Bay to reach Day Zero and will investigate the situation as soon as the opportunity arises
The Minister added that she will look into the reasons for the delay in the reparations to the collapsed canal.
The DA recently suggested that the Metro stops extracting water from the Kouga Dam and that it must also operationalize its “Plan B” for mitigating the water crisis. This plan entails finalizing the building or upgrading of water infrastructure to ensure that water from Nooitgedacht can also be reticulated to the Western and Southern regions of the Bay.
We welcome the Minister’s commitment to intervene and will hold her to account if she fails to do so.