The ongoing water crisis in the Matjhabeng Local Municipality (Welkom, Odendaalsrus, Virginia, Hennenman) is exacerbated by the ANC-controlled Municipality's non-payment.
The Municipality, which is burdened with serious service delivery problems, has been experiencing water shortages for quite some time in areas such as Jan Cilliers Park, Sandania, Doring-Suid and Extension 19 in Welkom, which were all without a single drop of water.
In addition, it has now come to light that other parts of Welkom, Virginia, Odendaalsrus and Hennenman also did not have water on Wednesday because the Municipality did not pay its account with the Sedibeng Water Council. Sedibeng reportedly restricted the water supply to the Municipality.
This is unacceptable. Every South African citizen has a constitutional right to have access to water and the Municipality is violating this right. On top of that, running water is of the utmost importance in effectively combating the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
Yesterday, the FF Plus sent an urgent official letter to the MEC for Cooperative Governance in the Free State, Mr Thembeni Skully Nxangisa. As a result, the MEC intervened and water supply was temporarily restored pending further negotiations regarding the outstanding debt.
The FF Plus will do everything in its power to find a feasible solution to the water crisis in the interest of all the residents of the Municipality. The ANC government must be held accountable for its actions and it must perform its constitutional duties.
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