This is according to DA Clrs Jackie Reilly and Tania Campbell.
They say that the ruling party continues to deny that it is facing a major problem.
“Ekurhuleni is an industrial and commercial heartland of South Africa where businesses rely heavily on the basic services for which they pay to be delivered without interruption.
“At the very least, interruptions should only be limited in nature, and businesses need to be given full and proper notice of these.”
The DA adds that it is applying pressure this week at every level of government to force the ANC to take responsibility and provide answers on the major interruptions that have taken place.
Reilly, reading from the EMM’s disaster management plan, disagreed quoting that a disaster is defined as a “progressive or sudden, widespread or localised, natural or human-caused occurrence which (a) causes or threatens to cause (i) death, injury or disease, (iii) disruption to the life of a community and (b) is of a magnitude that exceeds the ability of those affected by the disaster to cope with its effects using their own resources’ (Disaster Management Act: 57 of 2002).”
The DA said that in no uncertain terms that 24 hours after it became known that areas were without water, and when the EMM had begun to understand the magnitude of the problem, it should have declared a disaster in order to get the necessary assistance from other spheres of government.
“While the DA acknowledges that the EMM eventually did use various forms of communication to consumers on the water issue, it was all too little and too late.
“Amongst other problems, was an excruciating low reaction time, conflicting information and so-called Imbizos held in areas not affected by interruptions,” says Reilly and Campbell.
The DA says it is glaringly obvious that by holding public meetings in inappropriate Customer Care Centres (CCC) that the ANC was trying to avoid direct confrontation from residents in places such as Tsakane, which had been without water for two whole weeks.
The Speaker, Patricia Kumalo, refused to allow the DA to call Rand Water and Eskom officials to the EMM to account for the water shortage, citing that they were not local government institutions.
The DA rejects this argument, because as a major customer with whom these entities have service level agreements, the EMM is fully justified in demanding answers in order to be able to inform its own customers, namely the metro’s residents.
The DA told the mayor “to stop blaming paying residents for overuse of water” while, as in this case, “he personally failed to ensure that all consumers in Ekurhuleni are warned to cut back on water usage”.
