ATC130328: Report of the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs on the Oversight Visit to Gert Sibande District, Mpumalanga Province from 28 – 30 January 2013, dated 26 March 2013
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
Report of the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and
Traditional Affairs on the Oversight Visit to Gert Sibande District, Mpumalanga
Province from 28 30 January 2013, dated 26 March 2013
1.
Introduction
and Background
The Portfolio Committee on Cooperative
Governance and Traditional Affairs undertook an oversight visit to the Gert
Sibande District, Mpumalanga from 28 30 January 2013.
As
a Committee of the National Assembly whose powers are enumerated in Chapter 4
of the Constitution, and in accordance with the rules and orders of the
National Assembly, the Committee is required, in respect of the mandate of the
Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs to, among other
things:
§
ensure that all appropriate
executive organs of state are held accountable for their actions; and
§
conduct oversight of the national
executive authority and of any organ of state.
Key amongst the issues that define
the mission of the Portfolio Committee, is ensuring that local government
systems are implemented effectively, in line with the ethos of good and clean
governance. The provision of water and related infrastructure is one of the key
functions of local government. For this reason, local municipalities are both
water service authorities and water service providers.
In
·
Whether there
was indeed a water crisis in the area.
·
If there are
interventions in place to deal with the matter.
·
Any assistance
the
As a result the Committee met with the
2. Delegation
The Committee
consisted of a multi-party delegation led by
,
Hon
DG Nhlengethwa
(ANC), Hon WJ Nelson (ANC), Hon JM Matshoba (ANC), Hon FD Boshigo (ANC), Hon GG
Boinamo (DA), Hon J Steenhuisen (DA) and Hon C Mosimane (COPE).
The following officials accompanied the
delegation: Ms S Cassiem (Committee Secretary) and Mr A Sokomani (Committee
researcher). There were also officials from the Municipal Infrastructure
Support Agent (Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs).
3.
The Municipality reported that
there is a crisis with the provision of water to the municipal areas. To supply
raw water to Ermelo and adjacent areas, the
For reasons that were not
entirely clear to the Committee, a privately owned major dam in the area, the
Driehoek Dam, was not affected. This, and the generous amounts of rainfall the
Portfolio Committee witnessed in the area, seemed to suggest that the water
shortage may have been due to other reasons other than the lack of adequate
rainfall.
Bolstering this
suggestion is the fact that the percentage of households without adequate water
in Msukaligwa is 13.5%, which almost pales in significance when compared to the
25.5% in Mkhondo and 40.8% which is the case in Chief Albert Luthuli two
local municipalities within the same district whose population distribution is
roughly equivalent to that of Msukaligwa.
The Municipality held a special council meeting where it was
decided to declare a disaster as a result of public outcry on the water crisis.
The local municipality, the Provincial Department of Cooperative Governance and
Traditional Affairs, the district municipality overseeing the area (Gert
Sibande), the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and the
Department of Water Affairs, formed a Joint Operating Committee (JOC) to deal
with the matter. A plan of action detailing proposed interventions, and target
dates for completion, was presented to the Portfolio Committee. Most of the
interventions the JOC proposed had 31 January 2013 as the target date for
completion.
The Municipality has the following
water treatment works for the supply of water to communities:
·
·
In addition to these water treatment works, the Municipality
also has five reservoirs: the South Reservoir, Wesselton Reservoir, Airport
Reservoir,
4.
Interventions
The short term contingency plan as agreed upon by the
members of the
Joint Operative
Committee (JOC) included the provision of Jojo tanks, and a sizable number of
water carts
in the strategic areas of the affected communities.
This was to be supplemented by the implementation of the water restrictions
programmes.
The Municipality has
borrowed eight tanks from the
However, no sufficient
consideration appears to have been given to some of the health hazards such
tanks may pose. It has been alleged that on previous occasions some community
members have expressed their dissatisfaction with the tanks by inserting dead
rats, and poisonous substances into them, in order to deter other community
members from using them.
Further intervention from the Department of Water Affairs
was to approve the
Regional Bulk
Infrastructure Grant (RBIG),
reconstruction
of the elevated water tank in Wesselton to increase the supply in the
water network at all the reservoirs, increasing of water capacity in both
Brummer and Douglas Dams and exploring possibilities with the Jericho Dam.
There were also plans for a 6 month project to extract water from
T
he lack of technical capacity to manage water
infrastructure also kept emerging throughout the course of the Committees oversight
visit. And this appeared to be the crux of the water shortage problem in
Ermelo. At the time of the visit the Technical Services Department of the Municipality
had no engineers. The Committee was also informed of non-functional meters,
illegal water connections, broken water pump stations and the fact that out of
the R40 million Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) allocations to the Municipality,
only R4 million was allocated for water. It also emerged that silt has been
allowed to pile up in the
The Municipality has devised an action plan to this
effect.
Action Plan:
Recommended steps to be taken
|
Supporting
tools
|
Current
status
|
Target
dates
|
Supply
of water from the Douglas Dam
|
DWA
catchment reports
|
Gauteng
DWA regional office initiated an aerial study and water quality test on dams
in the area. If those dams are found to be illegal that
water can be released to the
|
31 January 2013
|
Supply
of water from the Brummer Dam
|
DWA
catchment reports
|
There is
water available from the Driehoek Dam that can be released to Brummer Dam.
The municipality need to enter into discussion with the owner of the Driehoek
Dam to release some water
|
22 January 2013
|
Determining capacity of personnel dealing with
water and sanitation
|
Section 78 reports
|
Municipality
is currently conducting skills assessment audit. Cogta must speak to MISA for
support
|
20 March 2013
|
Determining
the state of current infrastructure eg. Illegal connections, capacity of the
pump stations, calibration of the system
|
Water
Service Development plan (WSDP)/Master plan
|
The
municipality has reported number of illegal connections and non functional
meters. Cogta must speak to MISA for support
|
31 January 2013
|
Tankering programme
|
|
The
municipality has 6 water carts currently supplying Ermelo /Wesselton with
water
|
On going
|
Drilling
of boreholes
|
DWA
borehole reports
|
DWA
water resources is currently investigating the possibility of potential
boreholes around Ermelo
|
31 January 2013
|
Emergency
pumping to the Northern Water Treatment Works (WTW)
|
Rand
Water to provide emergency pipeline to the
|
Rand
Water has deployed a team that is investigating the supply of water and
non-functional air valves
|
24 January 2013
|
RBIG
project progress reporting
|
RBIG report
|
RBIG
business plan for the construction of a pipeline from Jericho Dam to Northern
WTW approved. The District has provided the assistance of a consultant to the
project. The consultant busy with design
|
|
Increase
in temporary raw water abstraction
|
|
The municipality requested permission from the
DWA.
DWA in the process of approving
the request
|
31 January 2013
|
Reprioritisation of Capital projects
|
|
R30m of the R40m MIG allocations has been allocated
for roads projects and only R4m allocated for water. The local and district
municipalities to reprioritise projects (RBIG, MIG and other CAPEX)
|
31 January 2013
|
Engaging Eskom and Mines (Ermelo Business
Community
|
|
Request support in addressing the water crisis
|
31 January 2013
|
4.1
Gert Sibande District Muncipaltiy (GSDM)
Msukaligwa
is part of a family of seven municipalities that fall within the Gert Sibande
District Municipality (GSDM). In terms of the Structures Act, a district
municipality must, among other things, build the capacity of local
municipalities in its area to perform their functions and exercise their powers
where such capacity is lacking. In this case the capacity of Msukaligwa to
fulfil its functions of providing potable water was in question, and the District
was duly expected to intervene.
The District
Municipality however has no authority over water supply and waste water
treatment in individual local municipalities in its area, because local
municipalities are Water Service Authorities (WSA) as well as Water Service
Providers (WSPs). Regrettably, Msukaligwa has limited capacity to perform both
these functions. The District Municipality has only co-ordinating and advisory
roles. This could be a major source of problems and reason for lack of service
quality if the local municipality fails to implement relevant advice.
This is
a source of many problems with water services throughout the district and it is
a well-known fact that the District Municipality lacks the capacity to handle
water services projects effectively. However the District Municipality is
better capacitated than the local municipality to address all relevant issues
associated with water service projects. This starts with the planning of new
infrastructure, the capability to appoint the most suitable consultants for
individual projects, upgrading of the existing works, effective operation and
maintenance of infrastructure, etc.
It was
admitted by the Municipal Manager (MM) of the Msukaligwa Local Municipality
that they do not have a single engineer in the Technical Services Department.
The Municipality should be water service providers and not water services
authorities, since generally, they lack the capacity required to perform the
functions of a water services authority.
The District was providing
support to Msukaligwa Local Municipality in the form of:
·
Modelling the
Ermelo Water Reticulation Network.
·
Providing a
Water Safety Plan for implementation.
·
Developing and
providing an asset management plan.
·
Upgrading of
the abstraction infrastructure at Douglas dam.
·
Procuring the
services of three tanker services.
If the District provided all
this support before the problem emerged, the water shortage could possibly have
been averted.
5. Committee findings
The
following findings were made:
·
No forward planning to accommodate increase
in migration and climate change.
·
Insufficient bulk infrastructure, ageing
infrastructure and lack of maintenance.
·
There were water losses.
·
Limited knowledge capacity of reticulation
networks.
·
Technical capacity no qualified engineers.
·
No clear terms of the tender conditions for
trucking of water with tanks to supply Everest Park, Long-homes, Thembisa, etc.
·
The Municipality started planning only eight
months ago when the crisis of water started (no previous risk management plan)
and only when in crisis state the Municipality realised that there were illegal
water connections and non functional water meters.
·
Negotiations with the owner of Driehoek Dam
to release water to the Brummer Dam were underway.
6. Recommendations
The
following recommendations with timeframes were made:
Observation
|
Recommendation
|
Time frame
|
Responsibility
|
There is a lack of technical capacity to deal
with the challenges of water provision.
|
The Department of Cooperative Governance
nationally should send Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent (MISA)
engineers to assist with technical capacity.
|
Immediately.
|
Department
of Cooperative Governance and MISA.
|
Due to the dissatisfaction with the use of the jojo
tanks its alleged that the tanks are contaminated with
dead animals, etc. which poses a health
hazard.
|
The Municipality should devise a risk management
plan to deal with disasters.
|
Immediately.
|
Msukwaligwa Local Municipality with the assistance
of Gert Sibande District Municipality and Department of Cooperative
Governance.
|
The timeframe for the trucking of water as
immediate intervention was not clear as well as the money spent for this.
|
A clear breakdown of funding for this project
should be made available as well as a contingency plan for provision of water
to communities.
|
Immediately.
|
Msukwaligwa
Local Municipality.
|
The Municipality has no plans in place to deal
with maintenance of infrastructure (ageing, non operational, etc).
|
A maintenance plan should be put in place to deal
with this. The abstraction infrastructure at Douglas Dam should be upgraded
and all broken pumps should be fixed.
|
Immediately.
|
Msukwaligwa Local Municipality with the
assistance of Gert Sibande District Municipality and Department of
Cooperative Governance
|
There were illegal water connections and non
functional meters as well as billing systems that were not accurate.
|
The Municipality should ensure that it deals with
the issue of illegal connections and servicing of meter readers. The billing
systems should be cleaned up.
|
Three
months.
|
Msukwaligwa Local Municipality with the
assistance of Gert Sibande District Municipality and Department of
Cooperative Governance.
|
The affected communities are not informed about
interventions and timeframes for completion of the intervention.
|
Community meetings should be convened to firstly
apologise for the violating their rights to access and clean water, and explain
the interventions in place.
|
Immediately.
|
Mukwaligwa Local Municipalities and ward
councillors.
|
The Municipality received R40million allocation
for MIG funding and only R4 million budgeted for water.
|
The Municipality should increase the budget for
water taking into
consideration the
problems faced with the provision of water.
|
June
2013.
|
Msukwaligwa
Local Municipality.
|
The demand for water is ever increasing.
|
The Municipality should pro-actively implement a
programme to conserve water and manage demand. New developments should
consider the harvesting of rain water
|
Immediately.
|
Msukwaligwa Local Municipality with the
assistance of Gert Sibande District Municipality and Department of
Cooperative Governance.
|
Capacity
|
A
skills audit should be performed at municipal level to address the challenge
of capacity.
|
Immediately.
|
Gert Sibande District Municipality.
|
The
problem of water was detected in 2010 and nothing has been done since then.
|
A
report on when the problem with water came to light and way of addressing it
should be made available to the Committee.
|
June
2013.
|
Department
of Cooperative Governance.
|
It was reported that a temporary pipeline will be
installed which will be followed by permanent pipeline to address the water
crisis.
|
A
report on the cost of the temporary pipeline and the source funding going to
be used for this should be made available to the Committee.
|
June
2013.
|
Msukwaligwa Local Municipality with the
assistance of Gert Sibande District Municipality and Department of
Cooperative Governance.
|
Its
alleged that the reservoir in ward 1 of Ermelo was blown up (exploded) and an
investigation into this is sitting with SAPS.
|
A full report detailing the reasons for the
collapse of the reservoir, actions taken against perpetrators and the
intended action for implementation should be submitted to the Committee.
|
Immediately.
|
Msukwaligwa Local Municipality with the
assistance of Gert Sibande District Municipality and Department of
Cooperative Governance.
|
It is requested that the Minister should ensure
the implementation of all of the above recommendations.
7. Conclusion
The
Committee strongly feels that if there were long-term plans in place, the water
crisis could have been prevented. Effective early warning and monitoring
systems to detect shortages should have signalled before the disaster occurred,
and contingency plans should have been in place to deal with the situation.
The
Committee will have a follow up meeting with the municipalities and all other
stakeholders concern, to get a progress report on the implementation of the
action plan.
Report
to be considered.
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