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The Democratic Alliance in eThekwini has written to Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda (view here), requesting that the eThekwini Municipality Executive Committee convenes as a matter of urgency to intervene in the ongoing water crisis in the northern areas of eThekwini.

The water crisis has reached unprecedented levels in the north with areas like Phoenix, Verulam, Tongaat, Umdloti, Umhlanga and Durban-north being water stricken for weeks now.

Protests are erupting in many areas and some have turned violent. This has disrupted learners and workers and the anger has reached boiling point.

There has been very little urgency displayed by eThekwini Municipality particularly in disseminating information around the Durban Heights 3 reservoir output. Umgeni-Uthukela Water Board, who run the facility that supplies eThekwini Municipality with water, has throttled supply many times to the municipality with no warning. eThekwini has also remained silent on the actual reasons for throttling supply to our various wards.

The full-blown humanitarian crisis was exacerbated by the lack of water tankers. The deployment of tankers has been an outcry from councillors and the public alike, but EWS sees it fit to deploy 2 or 3 tankers per ward on average which are wholly insufficient leaving many residents without water for days on end.

The continuous failings of the water network, burst pipes, leaks, pump failures, defective SCADA and telemetry system is a daily occurrence and residents are fed up of with the excuses.

Mayor Kaunda and his political administration must account to the public for the shoddy inhumane treatment they are receiving. Instead of bragging that he has no time to read public emails, he must climb out of his ivory tower and face the masses instead of sending representatives.

Under his watch eThekwini has fallen apart and the ANC-EFF-NFP coalition have turned most of the city into doom gloom and suffering. This is why a move to dissolve the entire eThekwini council and go into early elections continues to be the only solution to rescue this once functioning municipality.

Issued by Cllr Thabani Mthethwa - DA eThekwini Caucus Leader