‘Gauteng doesn’t have a water crisis’, but more sinister plans afoot, says EFF

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) said Gauteng does not have a water crisis.

The party has announced that it will be meeting with Rand Water management and municipalities surrounding the restrictions being imposed in Gauteng.

The red berets said it opposed to the current restrictions and that discussions between the utility and municipalities would focus around finding amicable solutions to the current crisis in the province.

ALSO READ: Level 2 water restrictions – What you need to know

Rand Water implemented level two restrictions earlier this month to help conserve the precious resource in the province, which has seen levels drop due to demand and consumption.

Water restrictions impact

The EFF said the restrictions is impacting all facets of business and civil society.

“Water is an essential basic need for life and economic purposes. Businesses that rely on water and electricity for production and services are struggling to cope with the rolling electricity outages, and adding restrictions aggravates an already desperate situation.”

“Imposing restrictions on hospitals, clinics, schools, and creches to a point where there’s a shortage of water to drink and flush toilets poses a severe health and sanitation risk to vulnerable people,” the EFF said.

No crisis

The party said while Gauteng dams levels are over 90% and anticipating a rainy period, Gauteng does not have a crisis.

“Increased consumption by residents due to the hot climate conditions is inevitable.”

“The nefarious agenda to privatise Eskom by compromising its capacity to continuously supply electricity also directly impacts the country’s supply. For this reason, we have always called for the protection of State-Owned Entities,” the EFF said.

Load shifting

Meanwhile, water levels in Johannesburg have plummeted even further, with the supplier on Sunday sounding the alarm that the situation was dire.

This is owed to the utility’s uninterrupted load shifting from the Eikenhof pump station to recover the Palmiet system.

Around 17 million people rely on water supplied by Rand Water. On average, each person in Gauteng consumes over 300 litres a day – compared to the global average of 173 litres.

ALSO READ: Joburg’s water supply plummets due to Rand Water load shifting