Umhlanga – one of South Africa’s prime tourism and commerce locations – has been crippled as it enters day 12 with no water from municipal taps.
The knock-on effect of an ongoing and ever-vexing water crisis has plunged the entire Umhlanga, Umhlanga Ridge and La Lucia region into disaster. This as restaurants, hospitals, hotels and massive residential complexes have been brought to a crippling standstill while senior eThekwini municipal officials twiddle their thumbs.
Recent oversight and engagement by DA Ward 35 Councillor, Nicole Bollman, has shown that critical reservoirs are simply not filling – with low pressure and inadequate water volume now taking a catastrophic toll on the economy.
Despite the crisis, eThekwini senior managers seem unable to put an action plan into play – while prime tourism establishments suffer significant cancellations and lost revenue.
The region is also dotted with several hundred bed and breakfast establishments, multi-billion Rand hotels and several high-end shopping centres who are now forced to flush toilets with buckets from tanker water.
The DA now demands that KZN Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube and her ANC-run provincial parliament urgently intervene in a bid to rescue the city from yet another dismal holiday season as Easter looms large.
Raw sewerage has already flushed away all of eThekwini’s December holiday hopes, with the rampant water crisis plunging the city into deeper financial gloom. The DA demands that ‘missing in action’ Head of Water Services Ednick Msweli resign, or face disciplinary action.
All cards to force the city into fulfilling its mandate of providing water, and fostering a healthy economy remain on the table. The DA will aggressively pursue all avenues available and expects both the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and Economic Development MEC Siboniso Duma to get serious about upholding business and personal rights.
eThekwini Municipality is clearly a failed entity. Residents have had enough of empty promises and empty reservoirs. The city must be placed under administration.