The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has confirmed that it will be holding a provincial inquiry on access to water in KwaZulu-Natal.
The inquiry will be held in Durban and will commence from today (August 15) and continue until August 19.
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According to the SAHRC, it has been inundated with complaints relating to challenges of access to water in various districts in the province.
“This issue of poor or no access to water remains a current day-to-day challenge for many residents, communities, schools, businesses, and other organisations across the province. These challenges have been highlighted to a great extent by various media reports. Most Municipalities responses to the complaints are inadequate in that they are unable to provide appropriate and sustainable redress to the affected communities. As such these complaints amount to a prima facie violation of the basic human right to have access to sufficient clean water, and given the far-reaching impact of these challenges on the affected communities, there is a need for a strategic intervention to find short, medium and long term solutions,” said the commission in a public statement.
The inquiry shall inquire into, make findings, report on and make recommendations and/or directives concerning the following broad and overarching issues for investigation:
• The extent of the challenges experiences by the communities in KwaZulu-Natal relating to access to clean drinking water;
• The systemic nature of the violations;
• The extent to which the organs of state have respected, protected, promoted, and fulfilled the right to sufficient water;
• The reasonableness of measures including legislation, by-laws, policies, and programmes adopted by organs of state to ensure the realisation of the right to sufficient water.
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The aim of the Inquiry is to determine whether the water service authorities within the KwaZulu-Natal Province have violated residents’ rights to access clean drinking water as provided for in national legislation as well as in the Constitution, and if so, what interventions are being implemented by the state to resolve and prevent the recurrence of the violations.
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