DA calls on Premier to declare Ugu a disaster area

6 June 2018

Yesterday the The Democratic Alliance (DA) visited Ugu District municipality residents who are affected by the ongoing water outages.

The municipality is entering into the second week of a massive water outage. This follows a long period of continuous water outages affecting the KwaZulu Natal South Coast.

The DA has called on Premier Willies Mchunu to declare this are a disaster area as the situation has become untenable. It is time for the provincial government to take urgent action and prevent even further suffering in this area.

This is the fourth water crisis in 2018 alone, as the municipality has been experiencing water outages since January 2015.

The current outages are due to an illegal municipal workers’ strike, subsequent sabotage and a toxic relationship between municipal workers and officials. All the while, the most vulnerable residents of Port Shepstone, Margate, Bhobhoyi, Murchison, KwaXolo and surrounding areas have to bear the brunt.

The latest crisis has also resulted in numerous schools closing and services at hospitals including Port Shepstone Regional, Murchison and St Andrews being severely affected as the hospitals were forced to scale down due to unreliable water supplies.

The lack of leadership in the District has prolonged the toxic relationship between municipal workers and officials. This has resulted in continuous strikes and massive infrastructure sabotage.

It is shocking that the Premier Mchunu and the Social Development MEC Weziwe Thusi were in the Port Shepstone for Children's Day celebrations yet they did not address the massive ongoing water crisis.

The Democratic Alliance has also made numerous presentations to the MEC of Corporate Governance and Traditional Affairs Nomusa Dube-Ncube for the Ugu District Municipality to be put under Section 139 administration. Until today these have fallen on deaf ears as the MEC continues to support her comrades despite the suffering of Ugu citizens.

The Democratic Alliance has taken the following steps to assist communities:

Councillors have been on the ground in communities daily to source water and keeping communities informed;

The DA has reported the Ugu District Municipality to both the SA Human Rights Commission and Public Protector and investigations are ongoing;

The Ugu water crisis and Section 139 administration request will be before the NCOP Standing Committee of Local Government today. We are awaiting the outcome of this meeting;  and

The DA has submitted a petition to the National Assembly for the bulk water services of the Ugu District Municipality to be transferred to Umgeni Water to manage.

The DA Ugu caucus previously moved a motion to this regard in the Ugu council however the uncaring ANC voted against it.

There is no new dawn for Ugu residents as their suffering continues. We will continue to push for good governance and service delivery in Ugu and call on the MEC to declare the area a disaster area so that service delivery can be restored as a matter of urgency.

Issued by Rishigen Viranna, Ugu Constituency Head, 6 June 2018