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While our country sits with dry taps, the ANC in Parliament does not believe it is of national importance.

This was revealed by the Office of the Speaker in response to the DA’s request to table an urgent debate on the current water crisis.

This is detached from reality considering that the ongoing water crisis in Gauteng is nearing a month while in KwaZulu-Natal, the Human Rights Commission is investigating the matter.

By denying Members of Parliament the opportunity to urgently debate the ongoing water crisis, the acting Speaker is reducing Parliament to a disinterested bystander while millions of South Africans are deprived of their basic right to water.

It’s ironic that as we commemorate Human Rights Month, the ANC is currently inflicting one of the most vicious assaults to human rights by denying majority of South Africans access to water.

This is while they seek to ram through all sorts of ill-advised legislation such as the National Water Resources Infrastructure Bill which will create yet another failed state owned enterprise – only exacerbating the water crisis.

Instead of allowing a debate on specific water issues affecting specific areas around the country, the response to the DA’s request suggested that because a debate had just been held on a water-related bill, that would be sufficient for Parliament to box tick its duties to the people, like a one size fits all solution.

On 29 May, it is time for South Africans to give the ANC a lesson in accountability. Where the DA governs, we provide clean, safe drinking water and quality sanitation. We build and we maintain infrastructure. The track records between us and the ANC are stark, and the choice before South Africans is existential. We must choose wisely, as our lives depend on it.

Issued by Solly Malatsi - DA National Spokesperson