DA investigates water in North West: Residents live without water for months
9 November 2017
The Democratic Alliance will write to the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Nomvula Mokonyane, to urgently intervene in the ongoing water crisis that many residents are battling with in the North West.
This comes after the DA conducted investigations and made shocking discoveries of the inhumane conditions that many areas experience as a result of living without water. The DA found that:
- At least 16.7% of the water quality in the province is not drinkable;
- 27% of maintenance of water infrastructure was found to be unsatisfactory, whilst 11% of areas in the province had no maintenance on water infrastructure at all;
- Only 27.8% of areas receive excellent delivery of bulk water, 22.2% receive bad delivery of bulk drinking water and 11% do not receive bulk water in their areas;
- 55.6% of areas experienced a total disruption of water supply to residents during the past 30 days, this lasted 1-5days, and in 16.75% of areas, it would last for 26-30 days straight; and
- Partial disruption of water affected 44.4% areas for 1-5 days, 22.2% areas lived 26-30 days with partial water disruption of water supply.
Residents in Moretele tend to go a month without running water as there are allegations that the reason the area is not provided with augmenting water, through the drilling of boreholes, is that politicians benefit financially from water tankers that deliver water in the area.
Kgetleng River Municipality frequently experiences at least 14 hours of water interruption in a day. Ramotshere Moiloa experiences frequent water shedding for at least two days per week.
In Tswaing, Madibeng and Ratlou there are problems with the maintenance of infrastructure due to poor workmanship as a result of untrained and unskilled personnel.
The Pomfret area in Kagisano Molopo Municipality has one of the worst water issues in the province, with water being delivered by trucks because there is no electricity to pump water. There is always a shortage of water and not enough water tankers to supply residents with water.
The DA also found that in 66.7% of areas the sewer reticulation was bad and was non-existent in 22.2% of areas across the province.
27.8% of areas have no septic tanks whilst 16.7% of the septic tanks across the province were not cleaned.
For years DA councillors in the local municipalities have written and requested intervention from the ANC-leading government but their requests are always ignored.
It is clear from the DA’s investigation that the ANC-led North West Provincial Government and local municipalities have no desire to tackle the water crisis that is currently ongoing in many areas.
The Constitution clearly states that access to water is a basic human right, it is, therefore, government’s responsibility to make provision for this and ensure that residents’ rights are not violated.
Issued by Joe McGluwa, DA North West Provincial Leader, 9 November 2017
