Cash injection for drought relief
● Bay gets R233m, Makana R22m from National Treasury
The water-scarce Eastern Cape has been given R1.2bn by the National Treasury for drought relief, with Nelson Mandela Bay receiving R233m of the disaster allocation.
The Makana Municipality will get R22m, along with an additional R6.7m from the premier’s office through the Amatola Water Board.
The announcement came as Eastern Cape premier Phumulo Masualle visited the Makana Municipality on Wednesday and addressed the council.
“He told the council that when his term of governance started he had to intervene and now was forced to do so again,” provincial spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo said.
“He encouraged them to stand on their own feet.”
The money was approved in February, with some municipalities already having received the funding.
With the massive windfall, a task team has been established to look into drought, sanitation and road issues in the province.
It comprises officials from the premier’s office, provincial treasury and municipalities.
It is chaired by Eastern Cape co-operative governance and traditional affairs department head Gabisile Gumbi-Masilela.
Nelson Mandela Bay acting city manager Peter Neilson said R212m would go towards the Coega Kop Wellfield borehole project and R20m for the optimisation of reservoir control valves.
At least five boreholes about 200m deep have been dug, with the municipality hoping to get 20 megalitres of water once the project is finished.
The municipality is also expected to build a water treatment plant, where the borehole water would be purified.
Neilson said the R212m would go towards this.
“There is an integrated project with the Coega Development Corporation for the new infrastructure.”
Municipal spokesperson Mthubanzi Mniki said that since the drought, about 6,000m of ageing infrastructure had been replaced along with 20,724 water meters.
“Pressure management devices have been installed and the municipality now has 20% of the water reticulation network covered,” he said.
With the increased awareness of the drought, more leaks were being reported.
“The municipality is striving to deal with these as soon as possible.”
Mniki said it was difficult to give an exact amount of water lost, but the figure had dropped by 5% since the start of the financial year in April.
On Monday, the city’s dam levels were sitting at a combined capacity of 45.99%.
Kupelo said the Makana Municipality would use the R22m for water infrastructure.
The James Kleinhans Dam’s capacity had grown from 10ML to 13ML since the province stepped in earlier this year.
“Once the intervention has been completed the dam will be able to yield 20ML, which is sufficient for the needs in the area,” he said.
“The task team is also monitoring the building of capacity in the municipality.
“A technical water director has also been deployed to the municipality,” Kupelo said.
He said water would not be an issue during the National Arts Festival.
“There is no need to worry about that with the intervention at the James Kleinhans Dam.”
Kupelo said R60.7m would go to fixing roads in the Joe Gqabi District municipality damaged by flooding in 2017.
Other municipalities to receive a share include:
● Blue Crane Route Municipality – R42m;
● Sundays River Valley Municipality – R900,000;
● Koukamma Municipality – R25m;
● Ndlambe Municipality – R32m;
● Kouga Local Municipality – R130m;
● Dr Beyers Naude Local Municipality – R30m;
● OR Tambo District Municipality – R184m;
● Amathole District Municipality – R61m; and
● Chris Hani District Municipality – R87m.
Environmental affairs will receive R88.7m for alien vegetation and veld fires as a result of drought, while farmers will get R55m to assist with land care.