While the Free State Premier has identified nine municipalities as water and sanitation hotspots, it is clear that local government is busy with crisis management.
In response to a question from the Freedom Front Plus (VF Plus) in the Free State Legislature, the Premier, Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae, indicated that the Local Municipalities of Maluti-a-Phofung (Harrismith and QwaQwa), Masilonyana (Brandfort and Winburg), Nketoana (Reitz, Petrus Steyn and Arlington), Setsoto (Clocolan, Senekal and Ficksburg), Kopanong (Trompsburg, Jagersfontein and Fauresmith), all towns in the Welkom-based Matjhabeng, Ngwathe (Parys and Vredefort), Mafube (Frankfort, Cornelia and Tweeling), and the Mangaung Metro (Bloemfontein, Botshabelo and Thaba ’Nchu) are considered hotspots.
Water and sanitation problems have plagued these municipalities for years. And every year, residents are told that national funding and even interventions are in the pipeline;
but they are empty promises and residents’ quality of life keeps deteriorating.
According to the Premier, most of the municipalities’ challenges are either in the process of being addressed or solutions are aimed at securing national funding for critical infrastructure projects.
In towns such as Kroonstad, Parys and Brandfort, Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) contractors were appointed; some could not complete the work while others were not paid by the municipalities, resulting in critical projects remaining incomplete.
For years, residents have been victims of the ANC’s mismanagement of municipalities.
This is clearly evident from the recent report by the Human Rights Commission (HRC), which highlighted local government’s failure to provide basic services, such as water and sanitation, to residents.
The HRC found most Free State municipalities guilty of violating constitutional rights and other legislation that guarantees water and sanitation to residents.
The only way to tackle the daunting task of restoring effective water and sanitation services in the province is to ensure that the ANC is ousted from Free State municipal councils.
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