Ratepayers express mistrust over City’s water strategy
Amidst water shortages in the city of eThekwini, a ratepayers movement has poked holes in the City's soon-to-be adopted water crisis turnaround strategy, calling it a "paper boat on a rapid river" without an ability to deliver.
ETHEKWINI Ratepayers Protest Movement (ERPM) has come out guns blazing, charging at the City’s newly presented water plan strategy.
The City recently announced that the Council had adopted the Water Turnaround Strategy, and it had been approved by the National Treasury.
The chairperson of ERPM, Asad Gaffar, said, “The city’s vocal assurances about securing funding for the strategy ring hollow, given the ratepayers’ deep-seated mistrust. Year after year, the city has mismanaged funds, prioritising wasteful and fruitless projects over essential services like water and sanitation.”
Gaffar added that to prevent the looting of public funds, strict oversight was imperative.
On Sunday, eThekwini Municipality mayor, Cyril Xaba, acknowledged that there is a challenge in the management and delivery of this critical service.
Also read: eThekwini allocates R10-billion for infrastructure rebuilding
“For this reason, we have developed the Water Turnaround Strategy. A few years ago, eThekwini water and sanitation was number one in the country. With this strategy, we want to restore the water business so that it becomes the utility of the future – consistent with the growth and new demands that are placed on the City.
“Currently, our water and sanitation business is struggling financially. Key among our objectives, is sound financial management.”
Gaffar added, “Ratepayers must demand transparency and accountability in the city’s financial management, particularly for critical projects aimed at resolving the water crisis. Our call for oversight is non-negotiable. We do not trust the city to appoint qualified personnel to implement this strategy effectively, therefore we offer to provide oversight free of charge to ensure that the strategy is implemented correctly.”
So far, an amount of R3.333b has been tentatively allocated for the trading services; added to it is the R6.6b for water and sanitation, totalling R 9.933b over the next three years.
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