Senzo Mchunu, Minister of Water and Sanitation, emphasized the importance of consistent and sustainable water supply and sanitation services in KwaZulu-Natal.
Minister Mchunu made the comments at Friday’s working session in Ladysmith to address the status of water and sanitation challenges in the uMzinyathi, uThukela and Amajuba District Municipalities, with a view of getting to grips with water provision challenges facing the communities and also devising means to address those issues.
All these municipalities have suffered with water cuts in recent months.
The aforementioned municipalities were given the opportunity to provide comprehensive presentations focusing on, among other things, household water and sanitation access, an overview of water supply areas, revenue collections, billing systems, non-revenue water, water tankers serving rural communities, on-going bulk water projects, functionality of water treatment plants, and operations and maintenance.
During the engagement, Minister Mchunu urged municipal representatives to stop taking pride in providing temporary services such as delivering water tanks and Ventilated Improved Pit toilets (VIP) and instead focus on long-term solutions.
“Let us finish all projects that are meant to provide water supply and sanitation services to the people, even those that have been white elephants for as long as 10 years in some cases,” Minister Mchunu said.
Minister Mchunu also warned municipalities not to spend too much money on emergency measures like boreholes at the expense of piped water and reticulation.
Risimati Mathye, the Deputy Director-General of Water Services Management at the Department of Water and Sanitation, echoed Minister Mchunu’s sentiments by emphasizing the importance of completing water projects.
“Non-completion of water infrastructure such as water treatment works and others leads to vandalism and theft because they are usually left unattended,” Mathye explained.
Following extensive deliberation, it became clear that municipalities face the following challenges in their efforts to provide water to the people: vandalism of water infrastructure, illegal connections, dysfunctional water schemes, insufficient operations and maintenance budget, and inadequate or unreliable water sources.
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