Ugu water crisis: DA to approach international advocacy groups as KZN government fails to help residents
6 April 2021
The DA in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) has today written to several international advocacy groups, including United Nations Water and Amnesty International, in order to raise the human rights and constitutional issues relating to the ongoing lack of water supply to residents within the Ugu District.
The decision comes after KZN’s ANC-led government failed to meet the 14-day deadline to respond to the DA’s requests for an urgent multiparty regional stakeholder meeting, to include political parties and those affected by government’s failure to provide water to the people of Ugu in accordance with the Constitution.
The DA’s request was made in writing to both Premier, Sihle Zikalala and his Co-operative Governance MEC, Sipho Hlomuka – with a warning and final demand for real intervention. The letter was also sent to the National CoGTA Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma.
The Premier and MEC Hlomuka’s blatant disregard for the DA’s correspondence is further evidence that the current government has no intention of working across party lines and with affected stakeholders to resolve the challenges caused by its policies and governance. This has also been made clear by provincial government’s failure to consider the many solutions proposed by the DA over the years.