Vice President Paul Mashatil. (Mlungisi Row/Garo Images/Volksblad)
- Vice President Paul Mashatil, who was appointed to lead the water task force, conducted a site visit in eThekwini on Friday.
- Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said R130 billion was needed to resolve the situation.
- The water crisis has caused intermittent water outages in several parts of the city.
Ekwini Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda has told Deputy President Paul Mashatil, who has been appointed to head the water task force, that the metro water crisis is only affecting 10% of households in the city. Despite the claims, the city said R130 billion was needed to resolve the metro water crisis. city.
Residents resorted to protests after intermittent water cuts occurred in some parts of the eThekwini metro.
Speaking at the Northern Wastewater Treatment Plant in Springfield Park, Mashatil said his team will work to ensure water issues do not reach crisis levels.
he added:
They (Kaunda and city officials) just gave me an explanation that there is a lot of work being done. they have a good plan. They only tackle 10% of the challenges. But there is a plan to keep us out of crisis.
“We are revising 10%,” he added.
“People will protest, but it's not 90% of the problem,” he added.
Mashatil assured residents of eThekwini metro that the water situation is under control and there is no need to lose sleep over the water.
Echoing Mr Mashatil's views, Mr Kaunda said the municipality had spent R500 million on the Springfield Park power station to eradicate the water crisis.
“The reason for aiming for that” [the Springfield Park plant for upgrades] Because it gives us more challenges in terms of polluting river flows. [and] It’s our beach,” he added.
At one point, he said, the factory was at 6% compliance.
But he added: “Currently it's 65%.”
“So this shows that there are upgrades in place and that they're doing some work to make sure that nothing is missing here,” Kaunda said.
“It’s not just this plant that we’re renovating, we’re also renovating Hammersdale, Phoenix and Lange Farm Station, which has more challenges in terms of river pollution than the coast. .”
He pointed out that only 10% of the estimated 500,000 households in eThekwini metro were affected by the water situation.
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But he told Mashatile that while eThekwini metro officials and politicians are doing work on the ground, “more funding is needed to address the real challenges facing the city.” Ta.
“This equates to about R130 billion, to see if we can upgrade the infrastructure to work as expected.”
Mashatil said he would also meet with Rand Water in Gauteng over water issues.
“We are going to make sure that Gauteng is not in crisis either,” he said.