The Chris Hani District Municipality (CHDM) must be a focus area for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s newly established Water Crisis Committee and the deployment of technical experts and resources to municipalities facing severe water challenges. President Ramaphosa announced the establishment of the Committee during his recent State of the Nation Address.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has been fighting for years to highlight CHDM’s failure as a water services provider to the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality.
Last week, I formally requested that the ongoing failure to provide Enoch Mgijima residents with adequate, quality water be brought before the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA).
With national government having already laid criminal charges against 56 municipalities for failing to meet their water obligations, I have now written to the CoGTA MEC, Zolile Williams, urging him to work directly with the National Water Crisis Committee to urgently address the water challenges faced by municipalities within CHDM.
The Chris Hani District Municipality requires an estimated R1.65 billion to address its water infrastructure backlog. This presents a critical opportunity to table a credible, actionable recovery plan before the National Water Crisis Committee and secure the necessary technical and financial support.
MEC Williams must put the residents of the Chris Hani District first by proactively engaging the National Water Crisis Committee to find sustainable, long-term solutions to the ongoing water crisis.
As the President stated, “Water outages are a symptom of local government that is not working… In many places local government administrations are weak and governed by patronage rather than technical capacity and merit.”
Decisive intervention is needed to ensure that CHDM fulfils its mandate as a water services authority.
The longer this matter remains unresolved, the more residents of the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality will endure prolonged water outages and billing inconsistencies.
The people of Enoch Mgijima deserve a DA government that is caring, capable and prepared to tackle the water crisis head-on and restore dignity, reliability, and accountability to local governance.