Vryheid’s water supply under threat

THE drought may be over but the continued water supply to AbaQulusi is still under threat, believes AfriForum chairperson, André van der Walt.

Mr Van der Walt asserts that it is clear that AbaQulusi municipality (ALM) has neither the financial strength nor the expertise to ensure the water supply to its ratepayers into the future, and strongly believes that this function should be taken over by the Zululand District municipality (ZDM).

“The drought is now a thing of the past, and no longer a problem. The remaining problems involve operations and maintenance, and, I am afraid, the water problems are far from over for AbaQulusi,” said Mr van der Walt.

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“According to an agreement between ALM and ZDM, ZDM (as the Water Services Authority) was responsible for the initial supply of pumps and other infrastructure for water, ALM (as the Water Services Provider) were responsible for operations and maintenance. However, this agreement has not been in place since December. Therefore, AbaQulusi is undertaking an unfunded mandate that they do not have the resources to maintain,” explained Mr van der Walt.

“AbaQulusi does not receive any municipal infrastructure grant funding that a WSA would receive, they do not have sufficient trained personnel, or sufficient budget for operations and maintenance, or the ability to generate the revenue required for proper upgrades. Currently, there is about 70km of asbestos pipe that has reached the end of its design life and must be replaced. There are no funds available for this. In a recent meeting, AbaQulusi councillors told Cogta (Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs) officials that there were no operational problems regarding water supply and that they didn’t need any help from Cogta. AbaQulusi wants to remain the WSP regardless of the issues mentioned. They are struggling to pay salaries. Where are they going to generate sufficient revenue to operate and maintain the water supply network?”

Relinquishing the function of water supply and sanitation to ZDM, will mean that AbaQulusi municipality will undergo a downgrade. A downgrade in the municipality will result in staff and councillors taking a dip in salaries, and the equitable share received by the municipality will also be reduced, which means less money in AbaQulusi’s budget for rendering services. The municipality would also lose the income generated through water supply.

But, will ratepayers be better off in terms of ensuring the continued supply of water to the town?

Some believe that handing over the water supply and sanitation to ZDM is the way to go, as it is a bigger municipality with vaster resources. They say that it is impossible for AbaQulusi to perform the maintenance and upgrades that need to be done without the right budget, and this compromises water security in the future. Municipal sources believe that a big part of the problem is that skilled engineers are being replaced with managers and directors without any technical expertise, at local municipalities.

Others are sceptical about handing over this critical function to ZDM when reports abound of the appalling condition of the plants being managed by the Zululand District in the rural areas. They say that ZDM has bigger problems with regards to the maintenance of its infrastructure than AbaQulusi does.

Deputy mayor of AbaQulusi, Jerry Sibiya, says the issue with water supply is not about capacity, but about funding.

“On our side, we are spending a lot of money on water supply. To give you an idea, about 60% of the amount of overtime paid comes from the Department of Water and Sanitation. We are also incurring ordinary staff salaries, and costs with regards to the purification of water. We are funding everything with revenue from our ratepayers and do not receive a cent from ZDM for this. However, we are currently discussing this with the ZDM mayor and we are busy assessing whether the function of water supply will be better handled by ZDM or by AbaQulusi,” said Cllr Sibiya.

Cllr Sbu Nkosi from ZDM agreed that it cannot be said for certain whether AbaQulusi or ZDM would be better suited to handle water supply as both municipalities were experiencing financial challenges. However, Cllr Nkosi believes that the staff challenges at AbaQulusi are an even bigger hindrance to service delivery than the lack of funding.

“If AbaQulusi has technical people that can understand the urgency of replacing old infrastructure, and if they come up with a proper business plan requesting assistance with funding from ZDM, it may be possible to help. However, they don’t even have people there who can draw up a clear business plan. AbaQulusi should not use ZDM as a scapegoat to explain its failure. There needs to be positive engagement between the two municipalities to find a way forward,” he said.