The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng is deeply concerned that residents of Emfuleni have, for the past few weeks, been unable to wash their hands regularly because the water pressure has decreased by 20% as the Emfuleni Local Municipality owes Rand Water R1 billion.
This is worrying given the fact that South Africa is in the grips of a second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic and one of the ways in which the spread of this virus is curbed is by regularly washing your hands.
In addition, in some parts of Emfuleni like Evaton and Sebokeng, residents have to walk long distances to fetch water for doing laundry, drinking, cooking and bathing.
Emfuleni has been placed under administration, yet the water situation has still not been resolved. Service delivery while this municipality is under administration has completely collapsed and it is clear that it is failing to resolve the financial issues facing this municipality.
The DA is calling on the administrators to ensure that an agreement is reached between Rand Water and the Emfuleni Local Municipality where the water pressure is restored so that residents are able to have access to a normal flow of water, especially during the second wave of Covid-19.