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The Democratic Alliance in eThekwini has seen services across the city deteriorate rapidly over the last few months. eThekwini Municipality is always in crisis mode and as the city edges closer to the festive period, it is even more beset with extensive and serious challenges in potable water supply, electricity outages and dozens of beaches spoilt by sewer spills.

Residents have been forced to live in intolerable conditions faced with rolling outages, sometimes both electricity and water at the same time. It is clear that the city is being run into the ground with not a single care for the ratepayers and absolutely no sense of emergency to fix anything. Officials are largely unresponsive and provide little or no feedback to councillors. eThekwini is riddled with service delivery failures, corruption, maladministration, crime and grime while senior officials, the Deputy city manager and city manager earn millions in undeserved salaries.

Residents in many communities have reached their tipping point and the writing is on the wall. The ANC and their coalition partners must GO! Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda ought to resign in shame for bringing a world class city to near ruin.

The DA as a collective is looking for urgent solutions and interventions which will help improve stability in the supply of water.

Herein below are some of the recommendations that the DA, will be tabling before relevant structures in days to come:

-Government to instruct uMngeni-uThukela water to increase its volume of water to eThekwini and not reduce volume as they have threatened.

- Petition National Government for additional urgent funding so that eThekwini can fast track critically needed reservoir capacity and upgrades as this requires billions of Rands which the hard-pressed ratepayer cannot afford to fund.

-Petition the Premier and Chair of COGTA (KZN legislature) to:

-Urgently list its intended interventions and funding in restoring Water security in eThekwini as well as supply time frames that ANC Bongi Sithole–Moloi made mention of in response to DA - MPL Heinz deBoer’s speech on the collapse of eThekwini water, 23 November 2023.

-Provide specialist engineers to urgently investigate and make available for public scrutiny, the state of eThekwini water and sanitation.

-Ask for SIU (Special Investigations Unit) to urgently investigate the ongoing outsourced tanker contracts which may have a link to ongoing vandalism and theft of eThekwini water infrastructure

-Insist that the city manager intervene in the management and allocation of municipal tankers in wards that face the ongoing water shortages and outages.

-Fight for fast tracking of supplement water from uMngeni/Hazelmere water treatment works into the Mt View reservoir as a short–medium term relief so as to bring about water stability in the Northern line of the Durban Heights aqueduct.

- Lobby Government that any capital costs for borehole water be 100% tax deductible. Lobby Government to make Jo-Jo (static) tanks VAT free (water shortages are now a national crisis).

-Argue in Council that all customers who pay a water utility bill be credited 25% of what they have been billed for in the last 12 months as a rebate for defective water delivery.

-Create an online petition for residents to rate the ANCs service delivery record specific to water over the past 12 months and make it available to the President, Premier and Media.

-The DA will not only vehemently oppose the anticipated ANC proposal of performance bonuses for the City manager, head of water and electricity but also call for government intervention to stop them being paid.

-The DA will ask that action be taken against the head of water and the city manager for being out the country at a time when residents, have a water and electricity crisis.

It is only the DA that has been leading this fight for the residents of this city.

If residents are serious about removing the cancer affecting our city, then Get help registering to vote at check.da.org.za. We will not relent fighting for a better county.

Issued by Cllr Rory Macpherson - DA eThekwini Councillor