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A tap with running water.
Service delivery challenges in the Northern Cape have seen the Human Rights Commission (HRC) holding a two-day engagement in Kimberley with politicians, municipal officials and civil society groups, to find solutions.
At the top of the agenda were issues around the lack of access to water in some communities and long-running sewage spills.
The Commission plans to keep a close eye on municipalities failing to provide basic services.
For the past few years, some communities in the Northern Cape have battled to access water.
Residents in areas like Gong Gong, Longlands, Warrenton and Jenn Haven near Postmansburg, have felt the brunt of failures by their local municipalities in providing water.
Nearly 66 percent of Northern Cape residents say they have experienced water interruptions from their local municipalities. That’s according to data collected by Stats SA in 2022.
Affected residents had this to say.
Gong Gong resident Eugene Oliphant says, “There is not enough water, which leaves them wanting to use the Vaal River and there have been warnings regarding cholera.”
Warrenton resident Tumelo Phawe says, “We can’t struggle with a basic need, water, water is a living thing so how can we live without water and it’s not starting from today, it’s been years, decades Warrenton does not have water.”
Another Warrenton resident Gopolang Lekwene says, “I am so disappointed, this thing is becoming a norm on us who are growing here and we have leaders who have the same issue or taste of this problem, a pandemic of water.”
Water interruptions are not the only basic service delivery challenge faced by residents.
Some are subjected to inhumane conditions of raw sewage flowing onto their doorsteps, with affected municipalities failing to tackle the problem.
HRC Commissioner Aseza Gungubele elaborates.
“As the Commission, we have agreed with the provincial government to form a crack team, that will be interacting with challenges that are faced by communities in the Northern Cape, particular in service delivery. That crack team with the manager part of it, will be able to monitor the progress in terms of the response of the provincial government on the challenges faced by the people of the Northern Cape. We’ve got a responsibility after we have tabled findings or recommendations for the provincial government to go back to those communities and see if there are any changes or any intervention done by the provincial government so that’s what first we do. What we do most importantly is to find secure regress as the role in this many issues but if we are not finding joy in any other in terms of responses from the provincial government, we might take other steps.”
The Commission says it will now go the legal route to force compliance.
Municipalities neglecting their duties will be subpoenaed and forced to respond to people’s complaints. The Commission says it’s sending out its first subpoenas in October.
