Address water challenges with local municipalities, not department - Water Minister Majodina

CAPE TOWN - Water and Sanitation Minister, Pemmy Majodina says disgruntled residents should vent their water challenges to their local municipalities and not the department.

She said her department was hard at work to support municipalities, but it can’t take over the job of providing water to ratepayers.

In her first briefing since her appointment as Minister, Majodina said over 400 calls have been made to the department over the past month.

“What has struck us about many of these calls is that callers do not seem to appreciate that the provision of water services is the responsibility of municipalities not the national Department of Water and Sanitation. It would be a priority for us to correct this misunderstanding, and to encourage communities and leaders to hold their municipalities accountable.”

She said she was aware of ongoing protests in the Ennerdale community over water shortages, despite recent maintenance work by Rand Water.

“To date, the reservoir is not filled to capacity. That reservoir is shared between Ekurhuleni as well as Johannesburg. We are therefore hoping that both municipalities are trying to find an amicable solution to respond to communities that are currently protesting because they don’t have water.”

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Majodina said it’s not her duty to intervene in the country’s multiple water supply problems which has sparked outrage across communities.

She said her department would continue to support struggling local councils to get their infrastructure projects and maintenance work on track.

In what was her first briefing since being appointed 31 days ago, Majodina said it’s imperative that water supply issues don’t impact the country’s economic growth.

She said water supply problems in Gauteng are largely due to a combination of a growing population prompting high water demand, and the poor maintenance and development of infrastructure.

But she said there’s a misconception about the role she should be playing in these multiple crises.

“We support municipalities, we don’t take over the responsibilities of municipalities as enshrined in the constitution.”

Majodina said she would soon table in Cabinet, an amendment to the Water Services Act, to introduce an operating license system for water service providers to ensure a minimum level of competency.

“This bill will also introduce measures to enable the national department to take regulatory action against municipalities which do not comply with national minimum norms and standards for water.”

The minister said service delivery protests could be averted if municipalities communicated better with residents about their maintenance plans.