Provincial intervention no solution for Mtuba water crisis

DESPITE the intervention of former KZN Premier Senzo Mchunu and Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs’ (COGTA) promises of full restoration of water to Mtubatuba and surrounds, shortages are still prevalent with residents being kept in the dark.
For the three weeks prior to last Sunday, Mtubatuba residents reported an hour-a-day of water with pressure so low it does not even reach the taps, while St Lucia had not received a drop of water from Mtuba waterworks for 14 days.
A KwaMsane resident said they had not had water for a month.
Less than a month since Mchunu’s emergency meeting at which he placed COGTA officials’ jobs on the line, and COGTA’s then Deputy Director General of Development and Planning Mthokozisi Duze’s positive plan of action, water for residents in Mtubatuba Municipality has dried up and both Mchunu and Duze have been removed from their posts.

With precious little communication from the uMkhanyakude District Municipality (UKDM) to residents or ratepayer association heads, COGTA’s promises of Mtubatuba’s water shortages being a thing of the past seem like empty promises and residents feel they have been lied to.
According to Duze’s plan, seven of the 13 wells to be drilled in the Mfolozi River bed should have been commissioned by 3 June.
Last Wednesday the seven reportedly went on line, yielding 13 megalitres, yet residents still sit without water and reports of UKDM not having paid the contractor to excavate the riverbed have begun to surface.
The UKDM spokesperson was contacted for comment, but failed to respond.