MIDDELBURG – The Steve Tshwete Municipality has cast blame on apartheid regime for its water crisis that has left residents without water for nearly a week.
The residents of extensions 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, parts of Gholfsig and Mhluzi have experienced constant water outages due to repair work on the water pipeline that supply water to the areas. The municipality has been engaged on a process of replacing old asbestos water pipes with new polyvinyl chloride (pvc) pipes. In his opening remarks, at a council sitting on Thursday, Steve Tshwete mayor Cllr Bagudi Tolo said the old asbestos pipes were that of apartheid planning. “The problem is caused by ageing infrastructure which is largely attributed to apartheid spatial planning,” Tolo said.
“In order to resolve some of the problems we are facing, especially with regards to water, we’ve got to address apartheid spatial planning,” he said. Tolo added a team of engineers and official including municipal manager, Bheki Khenisa, on site, working very hard to fix the problem. “They are working very hard to restore the water to the affected communities,” he said.
“We want to take this opportunity and apologise for the inconvenience caused,” he said. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) said the allusion of apartheid spatial planning is a sad indictment from the ruling party. “It is a pity the mayor is telling us about apartheid spatial planning when most of the affected areas were built in the new democratic dispensation.” said EFF caucus leader, Lebohang Masemola. “It was an oversight from their side; it is their own making,” Masemola said.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) echoed the same sentiments. “Well, one might find that the infrastructure had already aged then and it is also aged for more than 20 years after apartheid,” said Cllr Johan Dyson of the DA.
