The Mayor of the Harry Gwala District Municipality in western KwaZulu-Natal, Zamo Nxumalo, has slammed the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) for what he said was a biased report on the state of water in the region.
Nxumalo said the SAHRC only approached the community members for their investigation and did not engage with the municipality.
Nxumalo said given the fact that a majority of the district is rural, with about 10% being considered “developed urban areas”, and the budget constraints of the region, the report did not paint a clear picture of the state of water in the region.
The funding model of the municipality, together with the size and economic capability of Harry Gwala District, makes it difficult to embark on costly expansion projects, the mayor explained.
“From what I know, they came and did their research in the respective areas, they took information from the electorate, which is the community, and formed that report. They did not interview us as the municipality.
“That report carries weight, it was all over the media and made it seem like we are doing nothing. If they interviewed us, we would have contributed to the report.
“They were supposed to say here is the bad picture, but these are the solutions. So when Salga (SA Local Government Association) is championing these things, it will be stuck in the heads of those making the decisions, like the President.
“At the moment, we are given a small budget and the remaining money we need they (national government) tells us to get our own money. How are we supposed to raise money in a rural area?
“That is why I’m saying even the SAHRC must interview the council and find out why things are like this. Right now, everyone wants action, but you cannot put ideas into action without the funding,” Nxumalo told IOL.
The SAHRC released its report on the KZN water inquiry in September and said that various municipalities within KZN violated the rights of residents by failing to provide access to clean drinking water.
In the report, the SAHRC said that Harry Gwala fell into the “low risk” category for the Department of Water and Sanitation’s “Blue Drop Assessment” project.
The Blue drop project is a method of evaluating the effectiveness of water service authorities (WSA’s).
“The provincial Blue Drop assessment stands as a valuable baseline assessment of the strengths and vulnerabilities of the water supply system in KZN. However, the analysis and evaluation were completed in June 2021, prior to two major shocks – one political, the other climatological – namely, the July 2021 unrest and the devastating floods that ravaged the province from 8 to 21 April 2022,” the report read.
The SAHRC water inquiry was launched after the Commission received around 600 complaints from residents in the province, citing challenges or lack of access to clean drinking water and unfair billing practices.
"The commission finds that in KwaZulu-Natal, municipalities in general and water service authorities in particular have violated residents’ rights to access clean drinking water as provided for in national, constitutional, and statutory provisions.
"This violation of rights is aggravated by the pervasive sense of neglect, disregard, and, in some instances, contempt for people’s suffering and their attempts to engage their municipality through officials and elected representatives,” SAHRC Commissioner and head of the investigation Philile Ntuli said in September.
IOL