DEAR Editor;
This letter comes from an extremely irritated, frustrated and fed up resident in Southport with regards to the ongoing water crisis.
A letter published in the Herald on January 14 mentioned the water crisis that has been dragging on and on for the past six years without any solution. We moved to the South Coast during 2017. Since then and until now people and friends we have met told us about the never ending problem regarding water.
How on earth can a municipality that has to supply the most basic need as enshrined in the Constitution Section 27(1) – water – to which every citizen in this country has a right, sit with problems and challenges not knowing what to do and how to solve it?
It seems as if there is no capacity to identify the real issues that will lead to the core of the problem and then create strategic intervention measures, and step by step put those measures into practice.
The availability of sufficient funds for maintaining and keeping pumps and valves in good working condition and maintaining it are always put forward as an excuse.
The funds that were allocated for infrastructure were probably reallocated and diverted for salaries.
Furthermore the pipelines for water that were installed years ago together with the reservoirs that were constructed by professionals have probably since 1994 not been maintained as it should have.
Also in the article of January 14, as well as previous letters, the Ugu Municipality always has a backdoor open for poor delivery. According to them they are faced with sabotage, vandalism, intimidation and political interference.
It might be so but then if you are in charge of an institution that by law has to deliver the services in this case water, you must have a strategic plan of action in place to deal with it. The Saps is available or should be and if all else fails the provincial and/or national department should intervene. That however does not happen probably because of fear or they just do not care.
Six years have passed and still the same problems persist with no solution. Bills/tax invoices are sent out monthly on time, what a laugh, and residents are expected to pay for the use of ‘clean’ drinking water.
At the back of the invoice the municipality indicates the quality of the water, if there is water, is tested continuously and has been certified for human consumption, you must be joking, according to SANS 241 standards.
Does this municipality know what it stands for? Many times the water is dirty or murky and not suitable for human consumption.
L VENTER
Southport
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