Statement by Retief Odendaal MPL – DA NMB Mayoral Candidate:
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to the Ministers of Water and Sanitation and of Electricity and Energy, urging them to intervene and assist the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality in addressing the water and electricity crisis caused by recent flooding.
In light of the Eastern Cape being declared a National Disaster under Section 23 of the Disaster Management Act (No. 57 of 2002), I have requested that technical teams be seconded to Nelson Mandela Bay to help us deal with the ongoing daily water and electricity outages that are severely affecting residents.
The inept ANC/EFF-led Nelson Mandela Bay coalition government has run this City into the ground, and therefore, I have written to Minister Pemmy Majodina (Water and Sanitation) and Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa (Electricity and Energy).
The core problems the City is facing right now are daily water outages and unplanned electricity outages as a result of broken, ageing, and unmaintained water and electricity infrastructure.
The recent flooding caused high water turbidity and made treatment more challenging, but it is clear that many water pump stations are not operating effectively. This means the crisis is not only about treating the water, but also about reticulation.
The City’s electricity grid is unstable and is exacerbated by the recent flood events which have now led to hundreds of instances of localised outages. This ranges from individual households and individual businesses experiencing outages to entire suburbs being impacted by trips or faults at substations.
It is evident that the City administration is buckling under pressure and lacks the capacity to manage the extensive infrastructure damage caused by the floods.
Critical vacancies that have remained unfilled for years are also severely undermining service delivery and compromising the Metro. Two glaring examples are the long-vacant positions of Executive Director: Water and Sanitation and Executive Director: Electricity and Energy. The devastating effect of these specific positions being vacant has been highlighted during this time of crisis.
The residents of this Metro deserve good governance that prioritises service delivery, keeps the water running and the lights on, protects communities from disasters, and gets Nelson Mandela Bay working again.
