Democratic Alliance Leader John Steenhuisen blames ANC-led government for the failures of Rand Water to provide Gauteng residents with clean water.
Today,on 17 November 2023,Steenhuisen accompanied by the DA's provincial leadership approached South African Human Rights Commission(SAHRC) to lay a formal complaint against Rand Water which is responsible for water supply around Gauteng province.
During his speech address outside the offices of the SAHRC he spoke unequivocally about ANC failures and blame the ruling party for water-crisis is facing by Gauteng residents.
"The DA's submission of a Human Rights Commission complaint against Rand Water today,is yet another indictment on the ANC for the state of decay in the Gauteng province.
We have heard how corruption,maladministration,and neglect between the ANC nationally and provincially,including at Rand Water,have compounded into the most severe water crisis this province has ever seen,"Steenhuisen said.
He mentioned all places in Gauteng that are facing water-crisis which has been happening for months and also highlighted that some residents contracted illnesses.
"In places like Tsakane,KwaThema,and Duduza in Ekurhuleni,there has been no water for than two months in 2023 alone.In Soshanguve in Tshwane,water cuts have persisted for as long as 6 months.And here in Johannesburg,residents confronted Day Zero in October 2022 as a dangerous combination of load shedding and water infrastructure collapse,shut down water systems to allow for reservoirs to refill.
And water shedding often has deadly consequences.While residents in Germiston have reported contracting illnesses due to prolonged water outages,the Gauteng MEC for Health recently revealed that 392 operations have been cancelled across 16 public hospitals this year alone.The very lives of Gauteng residents are at stake because of incessant ANC corruption that has cut of water from millions of residents every single day,"he added.
He maintained that the water-crisis is facing by residents of Gauteng is created by the ANC and is not environmental issue and Rand Water is failing to fix water infrastructure despite receiving billions of Rands from provincial government.
"Gauteng is not being water shed because there is no water.This week the Vaal Dam is 72% full.But the infrastructure to send that water to Gauteng's homes has been broken by this provincial government under the ANC.Water shedding in this province is not an environmental problem.It is not something that befell this province by chance.It is an ANC-created problem.
Under the provincial government,Rand Water's scheduled R32 billion CapEx programme to restore its assets and renew infrastructure for water provision is now ten years late.At a national level,the National Department for Water and Sanitation's R26 billion Lesotho Highlands Water Project has not yet gotten off the ground due to contract irregularities and a slew of corruption allegations,"he continued.
He clarified that they approached the SAHRC to send a clear message to all involved in water-crisis in the province that as Democratic Alliance will not allow to happen anymore.
"The National Department of Water and Sanitation's website states proudly that 'Water is life,sanitation is dignity'.If this is true,then the ANC has robbed the residents of Gauteng of both life and dignity by taking away their water.
"And this is why we are at the South African Human Rights Commission today to remind Rand Water and the ANC,that we will not allow them to take away the constitutional right to access to clean drinking water from the people of South Africa,and from the people of this province.
We will not allow entire communities to go for months on and without water because money meant for the restoration of water pipes was siphoned into the pocket of a connected ANC cadre,"he said it with anger.
He also blame ANC for the collapse of the provincial economy and the lack of job opportunities and closure of businesses and factories.
"Nearly three decades of ANC provincial government in Gauteng has made life far,far worse for its residents,and has created a near impossible environment for a provincial economy to grow.
"Where businesses and factories once flourished and where jobs were once abundant,Gauteng is now bleeding investment,being drained of skills and expertise,and what's left of once beautiful cities such as Johannesburg are either exploding or going up in flames.And the facts speak for themselves,"he concluded.