09 February 2021 – Eskom has failed the residents of Umtamvuna – The DA wrote to Eskom CEO André de Ruyter pleading for his urgent attention with regards to planned electricity upgrades in the coastal areas of the District.

Eskom has failed to implement the upgrade of the electricity supply to the Umtamvuna Water Treatment Works from the Eastern Cape. Eskom was paid R14 million for the planned upgrade in February 2020 by Ugu District Municipality and did schedule the upgrade for mid-December last year. Nothing happened! The upgrade was then scheduled to April 2021

16 March 2021 – Ugu water crisis worsened by a silent MEC and a powerless Premier. The DA wrote to KZN CoGTA MEC, Sipho Hlomuka, and provincial Premier, Sihle Zikalala, with a warning and a final demand for real intervention in the ongoing Ugu District water crisis, within 14 days.

24 March 2021 – Ugu unrest: The DA reiterated its call for the municipality to be placed under administration, this after several days of violent protest action within the district. Disgruntled residents took to the streets and damaged both public and private properties while demanding water provision from the failed municipality.

25 March 2021 – The DA be set up a programme of action to tackle the province’s ongoing water issues. The move came after a successful DA-led campaign in the province aimed at bringing rural safety into the spotlight.

06 April 2021 – The DA wrote to several international advocacy groups, including

United Nations Water and Amnesty International, in order to raisethe human rights and constitutional issues relating to the ongoing lack of water supply to residents within the Ugu District. This after KZN’s ANC-led government had failed to meet the 14-day deadline to respond to the DA’s requests for an urgent multiparty regional stakeholder meeting, to include political parties and those affected by government’s failure to provide water to the people of Ugu in accordance with the Constitution.

17 June 2021 – The DA wrote to KZN Premier, Sihle Zikalala, and KZN CoGTA MEC, Sipho Hlomuka, to request them to declare the district a disaster rea in terms of Section 55 of the Disaster Management Act.This after areas around Ramsgate, Margate, Hibberdene and Izingolweni had been without water for 17 weeks. Water tankers had not been delivering water to households or refilling community static tanks as filling points had run dry.

22 June 2021 – DA calls on Eskom to prioritise power upgrade project in uMtamvuna amid ailing water crisis this after in March 2020, the Ugu District municipality made a payment of R14 million to Eskom for a power infrastructure project that would connect to the Eastern Cape’s power supply, to extract more water from the Umtamvuna river for distribution in the Ray Nkonyeni local municipality. More than a year later, there had been no progress in the project.

During the municipality’s council meeting the DA called on this project to be prioritized.

15 October 2021 – The DA called on CoGTA MEC, Hlomuka to ensure that there is no politicisation of the deployement of tankers this after Protea Park residents had only received a water tanker once despite not having water for almost 14 days. DA Councillors had also made numerous requests for the tankers but to no avail.

20 October 2021 – The DA held a picket outside the Ugu District offices against the complete mismanagement and incompetence of the ANC-runmunicipality to tackle the water crisis.

29 November 2021 – The DA called on KZN Health MEC, Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu, to urgently engage with the provincial cabinet in order to ensure a consistent water supply within the Ugu District Municipality as they were headed to the summer tourist season.

20 December 2021 – DA pressure leads to Section 154 Intervention into the Ugu District Municipality.

Ugu District Municipality was placed under Section 154 intervention. Under this section, both provincial and national departments can intervene in the municipality to strengthen capacity and support the delivery of basic municipal services. In this case water and sanitation services. For additional capacity support, the Department of COGTA has sent through a financial expert and a governance expert and the Department of Water and Sanitation a technical and engineering expert.

23 December 2021 – The DA called for this municipality to be declared a local disaster area this after vast areas of the district entered a third week without water, including large parts of Margate, Ramsgate, Southbroom, and Port Shepstone.

The DA suggested that efforts of a multi-disciplinary, intergovernmental approach are now necessary. The provisions laid out in Section 44 of the Disaster Management Act need to be brought into effect to address the disaster that the district is facing.

Fix Ugu water crisis

What has the DA done to address the Ugu District water crisis?

2018

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2020

2021

2022