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10 000 residents without water since last Tuesday

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Dear MyPE

Some 10 000 residents of Cedarville and Masakala Village near Matatiele have been without water since last Tuesday and no alternatives have been made available.

While some sources indicated that non-payment of electricity bills by Alfred Nzo District Municipality (ANDM) to Eskom is the source of the problem, evidence rather points to the failure of infrastructure. The latter being a symptom of inadequate forward planning and poor management.

Only this morning it was reported ANDM municipal manager Mzubanzi Silinga had been suspended amid infighting between senior ANC members.

Once again the ANC-led provincial administration is treating a service delivery issue as a political issue. We cannot allow that another fiasco unfold as it has in Makana- and Inkwanca Municipalities because the ANC prefers not to intervene by taking decisive action when needed due to internal ANC political considerations.

The ANC did not intervene when they should have years ago in Makana, they intervened in Inkwanca with section 139 (1) C when they should have first started with 139(1) b but former Local Government MEC Mlibo Qoboshiyane was like a hare in the spotlight, frozen from action due to ANC-factionalism.

Yesterday I spoke to the chairperson of Portfolio Committee for Local Government, Mninawa Nyusile, who later advised me that he had communicated with Local Government MEC Fikile Xasa, who undertook to handle this issue with the municipal manager. In addition, I will be writing to the MEC.

The right to water cannot be left to incompetent cadres who cannot and will not govern properly. We look forward to an immediate solution in Alfred Nzo Municipality, irrespective of who is affected.

People having to live without water for almost a week proves once again the failure of the ANC to govern this province and this cannot be tolerated.

Regards

Nokonwaba Dorah Matikinca

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