ANC calls on minister to explain boy’s drowning
Governing party wants Nkwinti to tell grieving family what will be done to bring them justice
THE ANC has called on Water and Sanitation Minister Gugile Nkwinti to account to the family of the six-yearold boy who drowned at the department’s incomplete water project site in Giyani.
Over the weekend, Nsuku Mhlongo, from Homu village, fell into an open trench left abandoned at the Giyani water project which had been commissioned by the department in 2014.
Khato Civils, a construction and engineering company which was contracted to complete the project, downed tools in September last year following spats with the department over payments.
ANC acting spokesperson Dakota Legoete said: “The Minister of Water and Sanitation must visit the family of the boy and explain the department’s progress on the project and how the matter is going to be resolved.
“We would like the department to make an investigation and bring to book those who are responsible for leaving the construction site unsafe.
“It has become clear that this is a case of negligence from either the department or the contractor,” added Legoete.
Khato Civils claimed that it downed tools because the department had unpaid invoices amounting to R44 million, and as a result the company had to retrench about 500 members of staff.
The project was meant to supply 55 villages with clean drinking water. In August last year, after R2.2 billion was spent on the project, it had a shortfall of R4.5bn for completion.
The project was initiated by former president Jacob Zuma in 2014. It was later commissioned by former minister Nomvula Mokonyane in August that year.
The department in the past financial year had overspent its R14bn budget by R2bn under Mokonyane, who was now Environmental Affairs Minister.
The department was reportedly owed R11bn by municipalities and water boards with the debt having risen by R1.3bn between April 2017 and January this year.
Khato Civils spokesperson Neo Molefakgotla said the company had not been to the construction site since September. He said that the company would do no work until it was paid by the department.
“We have stopped all the work at the project because we still have not been paid. You probably have seen the story that was doing the rounds on the six-year-old who drowned, that is the same project we are working on.
“Since September we pulled out of the project, and have not been back on site. “They are saying that at this point in time they are going to prioritise the payment since a child has died.
“They are working behind the scene to ensure that funds are available and for the project to continue,” said Molefakgotla.
During the ANC’s manifesto launch at the weekend, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the government would prioritise the completion of the project.
“I think of our people in Giyani who are still waiting for better water to flow through their taps; that we’ll also do. This we’ll do as we grow the economy of our country,” the president told the Durban gathering.