Parties blasted over water woes
ANC and EFF bicker as they come under fire at ‘town hall’ dialogue over challenges facing Verulam residents
THE water-stricken Verulam community north of Durban has vented its anger at ANC and EFF politicians.
Speaking in a “town hall” political dialogue, yesterday, Verulam Water Crisis Committee leader Roshan Lil-ruthan blasted ANC Kwazulu-natal spokesperson Mafika Mndebele and the EFF’S Magasela Mzobe for the water challenges that Verulam residents have been facing.
Lil-ruthan reminded the two party representatives that they were the cause of the suffering of residents of the northern areas. They were not supposed to be at the event, but in jail, he said.
“The culprits are seated in front of us. It’s the EFF and the ANC. The infrastructure committee was headed by the EFF, which allowed the ANC to run amok with finances.
“That is why we have no equipment to service the water and sanitation department. That is why we have raw sewage in our rivers that are flowing to our oceans.
“For 245 days we have not been able to use our seas. This is criminal conduct on their part and they should not be sitting on the platform because they should be in jail.
“I have no respect for you. You allowed people to die while getting water. You have no regard for the lives of the people from the north. Why must we trust you?” said Lil-ruthan.
Verulam, Phoenix and other areas in the north have been up in arms after going without water for months because of the ethekwini Municipality’s failure to restore water.
The northern communities have held several protests, including one that they staged at the doorsteps of the City.
In his party’s defence, Mzobe threw the ANC and its representative under the bus, distancing the EFF from the water challenges.
Mzobe said the problem in ethekwini was that officials cancelled tenders processes and started them afresh because they wanted to give them to companies of their choice.
When the EFF took over the infrastructure committee, there were already ANC deployees who were officials in that department, he said.
The EFF could not be blamed since it was the ANC officials who sabotaged the tender processes to fix the water treatment plants, he added.
He reminded the audience that the EFF had been at the helm of the committee for only eight months and was then removed.
Responding for the ANC, Mndebele hit back, blaming the coalition with the party, saying it was the EFF that had appointed a chairperson who was clueless about the work involved.
While the ANC has achieved a lot in terms of service delivery, it was not shy to acknowledge that there was still more to be done, he said.
While the ANC thought it had shot down the northern community’s missiles, the Durban south community of Wentworth also launched an attack, accusing the Anc-led government of not doing anything about crime in the suburb, which was under siege by criminals.
Alvina Moore, from the Wentworth Development Forum, said shootings took place in Wentworth every day but nothing was being done about it.
Another hot issue raised before the nine-member panel concerned the challenges that flood victims faced in ethekwini and which the City had taken more than two years to fix.
Sibongile Mkhize, speaking for the 2022 flood victims, told the panellists that they had been dumped at the temporary shelters and the conditions were getting worse.
She said they had now been told to look for land but they didn’t know where they would find it if the government, with its resources, was unable to get it.
Mndebele said the ANC government was aware that not all the flood victims had relocated to permanent houses, but 70% of them had been removed from the temporary shelters.
Other parties that participated in the dialogue were the DA, represented by its KZN premier candidate Chris Pappas, the IFP’S Thami Ntuli, Actionsa’s Zwakele Mncwango and a number of small parties, including the only independent candidate in the province, Thanasagren Moodley, who made it clear that he was fighting for the Indian community.