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The Democratic Alliance will write to the Matlosana Municipal Manager, Roger Nkhumise, today requesting a capacity and performance audit of the city’s Water and Sanitation department.

The Matlosana area regularly suffers without proper water supply and most areas sporadically have no water.

This is unacceptable as daily temperatures in the Matlosana area have risen above 35 degree Celsius for the past few weeks.

The Matlosana area is 3,561 km² and the department only has three vehicles available to ensure maintenance, repairs and routine checks to water storage areas and plants takes place.

These three vehicles must be shared amongst 60 employees.

This is a direct result of poor planning and poor budgeting. We warned the ANC council that the budget for maintenance and infrastructure development is skimpy and inadequate. The ANC, however, once again disregarded maintenance as a critical necessity and still pushed through the annual budget and now claim that there is no money for repairs.

Businesses, including restaurants and water-inclined entities, are suffering. Households are dependent on water for cleaning and preparing food.

Each afternoon the water pressure drops perpetuating a total lack of water, especially in the higher altitude areas.

A pipe recently burst in Margaretha Prinsloo Street and it created a domino effect that could easily be fixed. Unlike the reservoirs, the excuses from the municipality never run dry.

Water problems were also blamed on a pump station in Park Street where only one of the two 37 kW pumps was working.

This is precisely the reason the DA rejected the budget due to the under-budgeting for maintenance. Service providers are hesitant to work on municipal projects due to the poor payment of accounts.

We have confirmed that the alternative Alabama reservoir, that is supposed to feed this Roosheuwel reservoir, is also running low.

The department, that is also without a director for the last two years, not only tries to make an excuse for the poor planning and improper budgeting and but also disregards our communities as there is no will to deliver services.

The time for change is now as our residents simply deserve better. The DA can ensure a new beginning, with a caring government who will ensure that plans are in place to ensure good service delivery and bring essential services to all.

Issued by DA