The Democratic Alliance (DA) in eThekwini is calling for a review on the current approach of imposing water restrictors and curtailment.
The City Manager, Musa Mbhele and the ANC/EFF/IFP coalition have failed to manage the water crisis and are now placing the burden on ratepayers.
The DA strongly condemns the eThekwini Municipality, for its unrelenting failures in addressing water losses that have reached an alarming rate of up to 59%.
In the DA-run City of Cape Town, water consumption was reduced by 50% during the Day Zero crisis, without the need for water supply cut-offs. Additionally, the Drakenstein District successfully cut non-revenue water in half, from 35% to 17%.
This is what happens when a government puts the interests of residents first.
The gross mismanagement of water resources by the eThekwini municipality is a direct failure to uphold the basic right to water for all residents and highlights the municipality’s lack of accountability, forward planning, maintenance and effective governance.
Instead of taking meaningful action to address the root causes of water loss, such as outdated infrastructure, rampant water theft and non-revenue water losses, the municipality has chosen to install 88,792 water restrictors, prejudicing ratepayers who are already burdened with frequent, rolling water outages. This misguided approach not only penalises paying residents but also fails to tackle the systemic issues that lead to such high levels of non-revenue water.
For years, the DA has warned the political leadership and city administration of key points of concern particularly around the eThekwini water and sanitation (EWS) cluster. According to reports, eThekwini loses approximately 635,800 kilolitres of water daily, amounting to a staggering loss of R25.43 million in profit margin per day. Bursts and leaking pipes due to outdated infrastructure contribute significantly to this loss. In addition, the lack of maintenance or metering of standpipes adds to the wastage.
Officials are unable to quantify the amount of water consumed by indigent households, leading to significant untracked losses. Water theft where residents, connect to the water systems themselves, further exacerbates the problem.
Infrastructural challenges have been self-inflicted, with a dereliction of duty in preventative maintenance and forward planning such as building more treatment works instead of buying water.
The budget constraints that have crippled this unit is also self-inflicted, with the uncollected debt overall sitting at R35.6 billion rands of which 40% comprises water. This is equivalent to R14,2 billion in losses. This amount does not include the almost R4 billion in non-revenue of water. Noting that the city would need R44 billion to replace the water and sanitation infrastructure, the staggering loss of almost R20 billion would have a significant impact on turning around EWS, if that money was recovered and ploughed back into the unit.
No amount of turnaround plans will work, if the city cannot “put its money where its mouth is.”
The DA calls on the eThekwini Municipality to take immediate and decisive action to address these critical issues. It is imperative that the municipality prioritizes the needs of its residents and ensures that water is managed sustainably and equitably.