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Failed provincial intervention leaves Makhanda high and dry

By

Dear Editor

The Eastern Cape Provincial Government’s intervention intended to provide technical expertise to the beleaguered Makana Local Municipality, and to find solutions to the prolonged water crisis in Makhanda, has proven to be an utter failure.

For the past eight months, Makhanda, which forms part of the Makana Municipality, has suffered prolonged water outages due to the catastrophic failure of the municipality’s water infrastructure. The situation has become increasingly dire, with the local prison and Settlers Hospital frequently left without water. The crisis has reached alarming proportions at the hospital, where patients are now required to bring their own water.

Last year, the MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Zolile Williams, facilitated a Section 154 intervention in Makhanda, deploying a technical team to oversee infrastructure maintenance and refurbishment projects.

This followed after a DA delegation met with MEC Williams, to secure his commitment to implement this support.

Although the seconded team made initial progress, it was abruptly halted when a civil engineer from the provincial team was forced to flee Makhanda late last year due to threats to his life.

MEC Williams failed to take any action to protect his team from the threats posed by compromised individuals who are undermining efforts to get the Makana Municipality working again. Despite requests, MEC Williams neglected to facilitate a risk assessment by the South African Police Service (SAPS) to determine the extent of the threats against the engineer’s life.

The DA has once again written to MEC Williams and demanded that he take urgent action to intervene in the unfolding disaster in Makhanda.

The MEC’s failure to act has compromised the entire intervention, resulting in little to no progress being made towards the original mandate of the technical team.

The DA believes that the Makana Municipality has been hijacked by compromised officials who thrive on chaos and anarchy to loot municipal resources.

To restore order and functionality, we propose the following:

  • Reinstating the seconded civil engineer.
  • Develop a revised turnaround plan to restore all municipal services to government standards within 12 months.
  • Immediately eradicate 114 bucket toilets.
  • Immediately publish all by-laws, tender outcomes, sectoral plans, and the Integrated Development Plan (IDP) on the municipal website.
  • Immediately replace the dysfunctional call centre.
  • Publish the budget expenditure on the website every month.

The once-thriving Makana Municipality is now being ravaged by corruption and ineptitude, devastating its economy, and the DA is committed to doing everything in our power to restore it to its former glory.

Regards

Retief Odendaal MPL / Jane Cowley MPL
Shadow MEC for CoGTA / Frontier Constituency Leader

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