The Democratic Alliance (DA) has asked ActionSA Parliamentary leader Athol Trollip and his party to immediately apologise to uMngeni Mayor Chris Pappas and uMngeni residents for what the party calls “unwarranted and illogical claims” made about the water crisis in eThekwini, in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).
This after ActionSA accused the DA-run uMngeni municipality of mismanaging sewage systems.
ActionSA’s Trollip pointed to an “apparent failure” by the municipality to maintain critical wastewater treatment infrastructure, which he claims has directly contributed to the water crisis in KZN.
The discovery of algae in State bulk water provider uMngeni-UThukela Water’s Durban Heights Water Treatment Works in August resulted in a reduced flow of water to municipalities, leaving many areas without supply while the algae problem was treated.
Trollip claimed that the underlying cause of the state provider’s shutdown was the DA-run municipality’s failure to maintain wastewater treatment pump stations.
ActionSA wants an urgent investigation, urging the Departments of Water and Sanitation, and of Environmental Affairs to hold the responsible parties to account and to ensure that such incidents don’t happen again.
DA KZN chairperson Dean Macpherson hit back at Trollip’s claims, and said ActionSA’s “made-up reality”, had led ActionSA to conclude that the local municipality was responsible for sewage and water, when it was the responsibility of the African National Congress-run district municipality.
This information was readily available through Google, he said.
Macpherson stated that ActionSA’s “desperate attempt” to deflect the growing anger across the country to “their newfound coalition with the Economic Freedom Fighters is now visible for all to see, and no one will be fooled by it, except ActionSA”.
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