DA welcomes SAHRC response on water crisis
EPHRAIM MOGALE – The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality said it welcomed the response by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) that it would investigate the water crisis within the local municipality.
The complaint to the SAHRC followed after an oversight visit to Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality in June this year when the DA found people in ditches desperately digging for water. The DA said the water was murky, possibly contaminated and surrounded by animal faeces and rubbish.
The party said for years, the ANC-run municipality has been unable to provide water for the residents in the majority of its wards.
According to the party residents in the area advice that they have not seen a water truck making deliveries of water for months and when the truck did come, it only serviced a select few and often requested payment of R3 per drum from the poorest of the poor.
Lindy Wilson, DA constituency head in the citrus valley, said it came as no surprise that the SAHRC advised the DA that their complaint was just one of the many received in Sekhukhune district of Limpopo.
Wilson said Sekhukhune District Municipality (SDM) along with Ephraim Mogale Local Municipality and Elias Motsoaledi Local Municipality has a track record of being among the worst managed municipalities in the province and were among those who squandered millions in VBS scandal.
“The mismanagement and corruption have resulted in the residents of the area being denied the most basic of their rights – particularly the right to clean water. The DA looks forward to the SAHRC report. We are convinced that the universal right to access to clean water will be upheld and that these municipalities will be held accountable,” said Wilson.
