By Luvuyo Mjekula
Eastern Cape MEC for co-operative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta), Zolile Williams, is scheduled to arrive in Makhanda today (Friday) as provincial interventions to deal with the town’s crippling water crisis start to kick in.
Spokesperson Pheello Oliphant told Grocott’s Mail yesterday that while the purpose of the MEC’s visit is to address general local government issues, he would attend to “the pressing issue of Makhanda’s water crisis”.
Oliphant said the MEC would meet with all the relevant stakeholders.
An experienced civil engineer would also be brought in to provide his expertise. “Makana’s engineering capacity is very weak,” Oliphant said.
As part of the interventions, under Section 154 of the constitution, the MEC will seek to provide long-term and short-term assistance to the municipality. In the short term, the objective is increasing the capacity of the James Kleynhans plant from 10 to 20MGL while and in the intermediate and long term, the aim would be to get Waainek up to 20MGL a day, from 7MGL, Oliphant explained.
Efforts would be made to help the municipality deal with the “Achilles heel” of revenue collection. Oliphant said Makana’s collection stood at 54% instead of 95%.
This would not be the end of engagements with Makana, he said. The department’s municipal directorate would be monitoring and assisting the municipality on a financial recovery plan.
Oliphant confirmed that the MEC held a meeting with the Democratic Alliance yesterday, at the party’s request.
In an earlier statement, DA leader in the provincial legislature, Dr Vicky Knoetze, said the party had successfully engaged with the MEC to discuss the water situation in Makhanda.
Knoetze said Williams had committed to intervene in the ongoing water crisis in Makana Municipality by implementing Section 154 of the Constitution.
This typically involves deploying experts or teams to assess and address municipalities’ specific issues, such as financial mismanagement, infrastructure failures, or service delivery problems, Knoetze explained.
“During this meeting, the DA delegation also secured the MEC’s commitment to finding long-term, sustainable solutions to the problems facing Makana residents and welcomed input in terms of a turnaround strategy for the municipality.”
Makhanda has been battling with water demand exceeding supply, ageing infrastructure, excessive leaks, and pipe bursts, which have resulted in major water losses.
As a result, the town has been on a water rationing system, with sections closed off at night to ensure that reservoirs recharge.
However, the situation was exacerbated recently when cuts to overtime resulted in workers not working overtime from 23 August, which led to the collapse of the supply system and the inability to supply water to many areas.
Currently, even though there is some improvement in the water supply, the Waainek Scheme on the Western side of Makhanda is still struggling to recharge and stabilise the water supply, which is resulting in some areas on the Western side not receiving water.
The DA welcomed the MEC’s intervention.
“We appreciate the MEC agreeing to meet and discuss viable interventions that could be implemented and for committing to establishing platforms for ongoing discussions around local government issues going forward,” said Knoetze.
Knoetze added: “The DA, as the official opposition, is committed to working with the government to offer our ideas and solutions to the myriad challenges our people face, while fulfilling our duty in holding the executive to account.”
She said the party welcomed Williams’s commitment to implement support under Section 154 of the constitution to deploy technical and financial capacity in the municipality starting Monday next week.
“This is how we move the Eastern Cape forward and ensure that we contribute to bringing change to our people.”
