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In reply to a DA parliamentary question, the Minister of Water Affairs, Edna Molewa, indicated that the water in Carolina is now safe to drink. “According to the latest analytical results provided by the Mpumamanzi Laboratory Services&hellip All the results are within the Class I water quality standards as prescribed by the Department (through the SANS 241: 2006 water quality standards)”.

However, residents insist that the water is still unfit for human consumption.

Last month, the DA challenged the Minister to go to Carolina and Silobela Township to drink the water from the taps. The Minister responded that she would drink the water if she was there. As she is visiting the area on Friday, we reiterate our challenge for the minister to test her faith in the audit samples to which she confidently refers.

Carolina, along with Caropark and Silobela townships, has now gone without safe drinking water for eight months. This is eight months too long. It is time for government to take the problem seriously. Setting new water supply targets in a National Development Plan, while welcome, is not sufficient to solve the immediate problem that 25% of South Africa’s population may have access to a tap, but no reliable service.

Efficient water service delivery starts with self-sacrificial leadership in the genuine interest of serving South Africa’s citizens who have a constitutionally enshrined progressive right to potable water. Minister Molewa should model this kind of leadership by being the first to drink the water she so boldly proclaimed was safe to consume.