Department of Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu has blamed the administration of the eThekwini Municipality for the city’s water challenges, which vary from quality to quantity.
Minister Mchunu was speaking during a live broadcast on Newzroom Afrika on Monday morning via a video link from Mpumalanga.
Mchunu said the poor governance in eThekwini, particularly around its maintenance and development of the water infrastructure, is the reason behind the problems today.
But despite the minister throwing them under the bus, eThekwini did not comment on the remarks shared by Mchunu.
Mchunu said his department pushed for the idea that Umngeni-uThukela Water take over 10 of eThekwini’s water works, which, according to the minister, represents 90% of sewage processing in the city.
The interview was about the KwaZulu-Natal flood damage to the city’s infrastructure, and around half way in, the minister brought up eThekwini.
Mchunu said one of the biggest blows to the city’s infrastructure caused by the flood was to the oThongathi Water Treatment Plant, which has since been repaired.
A southern aqueduct was decommissioned around 2015 or 2016 and was never redeveloped but left in a decaying state, according to Mchunu.
He said one of the two aqueducts leading from Reservoir Hills to southern areas like uMlazi and Folweni was decommissioned due to old age, but the city failed to “immediately take decisions”.
The failure to pro-actively solve challenges within the water network was a result of poor governance, Mchunu said.
Delays in addressing the challenges in eThekwini’s water network were a result of poor governance on the part of the city’s water authority and its council, the minister added.
The eThekwini Municipality did not say much in response to Mchunu’s interview.
“eThekwini Municipality will not engage with any sphere of government through the media,” eThekwini Municipality spokesperson Gugu Sisilana said.
Regarding the taking over of the sewage processing, the city clarified that it entered into a contract with the Umngeni-uThukela Water Authority to operate and maintain the waste water treatment plants.
“The city has entered into a 12-month contract with Umngeni-uThukela Water for the operation and maintenance of some of the city's waste water treatment plants that were severely damaged by the April 2022 flood disasters,” Sisilana said.
Last month, Mchunu and mayor Mxolisi Kaunda held a water imbizo in uMlazi to address challenges the residents of the city have, and have been experiencing for years, in some cases.
The minister and mayor were meant to find solutions to the many problems in the city’s water network, but the best idea that the national government could come up with was to host another conference in Gauteng to talk more about the issues.
Many in the political and civil spaces called the minister’s visit an utter waste of time and a PR stunt.
“How can they do assessments now? Our government in eThekwini does little to actually address issues, but we still stage these PR stunts to trick the public into thinking they are finding solutions,” said Zain Soosiwala from eThekwini Secure.
“Minister Mchunu going around now and assessing the situation after everything that has happened is a little too late. The horse has already left the stable,” he added.
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