While the residents and businesses of the Inxuba Yethemba Local Municipality (IYLM) endure days without running water, the Department of Water and Sanitation blames “technical difficulties” for failing to respond to a Democratic Alliance (DA) urgent appeal for assistance.
The IYLM towns of Nxuba and Middelburg are currently experiencing prolonged and excessive water outages, which are not only severely impacting residents, but also crippling the local economy.
To make matters worse, the Chris Hani District Municipality (CHDM), the water and sanitation authority responsible for IYLM, has been woefully inadequate in addressing the crisis. In a recent DA communication with the CHDM over the current water crisis, their only answer was that “water tankers will be supplied”. Such a response is a completely unacceptable answer to what is rapidly escalating into a humanitarian disaster.
On Tuesday, 4 November 2025, I wrote to Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina, and the Director-General of her department, Dr Sean Phillips, urging them to intervene, and, due to the urgency of the matter, requested a reply within 48 hours.
Our request for intervention included the following:
- Immediate joint intervention by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) and the Department of Water and Sanitation under Section 154 and Section 63 of the Water Services Act.
- Deployment of a technical task team to stabilise bulk water supply within 48 hours.
- A formal provincial and national turnaround plan for IYLM/CHDM water services, with timelines and reporting obligations.
- Emergency provisioning for commercial and agricultural operations, not only household tanker distribution.
- Written confirmation of the cause of the current outage, expected restoration time, and the status of water infrastructure funding allocated to CHDM.
The DA followed up yesterday and was informed that our letter had not been received due to “technical difficulties” at the department. We were then advised to resend the letter to the Office of the Director-General, despite having already included it in our initial email to the Minister. The Director-General’s office has now confirmed receipt of our correspondence and confirmed that feedback will be forthcoming.
While Minister Majodina and her department need to be reminded to reply to a crisis, thousands of residents, businesses, hospitals, schools, abattoirs and food producers cannot continue under permanent water-shedding.
The DA will continue our fight for the people of Inxuba Yethemba, ensuring that incompetence does not deny them access to basic services and the fundamental rights to which they are entitled.