SA supply crisis is ‘water apartheid’, says EFF
The EFF told the National Assembly on Tuesday that the country’s ongoing water crisis primarily impacts the poor while “the elites continue to fill their swimming pools”.
The party responded to Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina’s address to MPs on the country’s water security.
Municipalities are struggling to deliver water, a situation largely blamed on infrastructure neglect and underspending.
Metros such as eThekwini and Johannesburg are particularly hard hit - suffering weekly outages.
The EFF’s Rebbeca Mohlala labelled the minister’s address as full of empty promises.
“You preach behaviour change while mines guzzle millions of litres unchecked. This is not governance – this is water apartheid. The minister speaks of raw water security yet admits localising deficits in Gauteng and Kwa Zulu-Natal,” Mohlala said.
She also raised concerns about water leaks caused by poor municipal infrastructure.
“The water supply disruption in Gauteng and KZN are blamed on rapid growth and municipal leaks, but who is responsible for planning and maintenance?”
In her statement to the National Assembly, Majodina revealed that Gauteng and KZN account for the highest water usage.
The minister said there are limits when it comes to building dams in the country.
“We can build dams up to a particular extent; we are already harnessing 75% of our utilised surfaced water resources, and the remaining opportunities for capturing surfaced water in large dams are expensive,” the minister said.
She added that her department is prioritising projects to address the remaining access backlog, with a focus on securing funding for regional water bulk supply infrastructure.
“A user-pay must be implemented on those who are using water,” Majodina said.
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