Urgent plan needed to deal with the water crisis in Gauteng so that residents’ human rights are not infringed

17 October 2022

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is demanding that Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi urgently implements a disaster management plan to deal with the current water crisis and load-shedding in the province.

For a few weeks now, residents living in Gauteng have been subjected to low water pressure or no water at all because the reservoirs are not able to fill up sufficiently because of the ongoing load-shedding.

The only way this crisis can be dealt with effectively is by doing the following:
- Establish a task team to deal with the water and electricity crisis.
- Outline the exact steps that will be taken to have the province become less dependent on Eskom.
- Embark on a public awareness campaign in conjunction with municipalities on water and electricity conservation.
- Engage Independent Power Producers so that additional electricity can be procured for the province.

The electricity crisis is not new, and the ANC-led government has had ample time to come up with a concrete strategy that would shield our residents from the incompetence of State-Owned Entity (SOE) Eskom.

The issues with Eskom have now had a ripple effect on the supply of water and if the current government was serious about ensuring that none of our resident’s human rights is infringed, they would have a plan in place ready to implement.

For service delivery to continue unhindered the provincial government must immediately get their ducks in a row.

A DA government in Gauteng will have a similar plan in place to the Western Cape, where residents are protected from higher stages of load-shedding because they have the extra energy-generating capacity by using hydroelectricity.

Issued by Solly Msimanga, Official Leader of the Opposition-Gauteng, 17 October 2022