The Democratic Alliance (DA) in Mogale will write to the executive in the city, and hand over a memorandum of demands imploring them to take urgent action on the ongoing water crisis.
Mogale City residents have been facing a massive water outage since 3 March 2024 and many taps have been dry for more than 200 hours.
These issues are easily written off as being Rand Water’s fault alone, but it is a shared responsibility.
Local government is a highly regulated sphere of government, a competent executive, however, can navigate these challenges. That is not the case in Mogale.
Water crises are manageable. They can start by implementing the established essential national and minimum standards for municipal services
While Mogale City has adopted these key performance standards as part of its Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan, the ANC/EFF/ATM Doomsday Coalition is failing dismally to govern and implement their own budgets.
The crux of the problem is priorities, the executive thought it effective to approve adjustment budgets that removed R24 million rand from utility services savings and gave R56 million to security services. Water is more important and should be treated as the life-giving priority it is, rather than as a backburner for tenderpreneurs.
In removing a R16 million capital project for water pipelines in rural areas and informal settlements for 2023/2024 and by making no provision in either 2024/2025 or 2025/2026. Mogale has doomed those less fortunate to struggle for another 3 full calendar years.
In emergency circumstances supply chain management policy allows for deviations from normal procurement processes, meaning procurement can be accelerated when motivated during a disaster, crisis, or emergency.
This however requires having a finger on the pulse and realising when and how to utilise the duties, responsibilities, functions, and powers afforded to the Executive. They do not.
The current ANC/EFF/ATM executive lacks excellence, they lack lustre, they are dull.
To rescue this city we need to vote for a credible government that has the courage to act during a crisis. The key to unlock a better and brighter future for South Africa is to vote DA in 2024.