There is no service more basic and more essential to human life and dignity than water, says DA Joburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille.
“We have got to ring fence the budget for water, electricity and all other utility services,” she told the Sowetan IN THE KNOW podcast. “For some reason, I read in the newspapers that R4bn was moved out of the water budget. They asked the mayor where did that go to, and he doesn’t know.
“I don’t understand why the mayor doesn’t know what is happening in the budget. Being on top of what is happening in the budget is the most important requirement to being a mayor.”
When asked how she would have handled water problems in Westbury and Coronationville, Zille said: “If I was the mayor in 2006, which is when I was a mayor in Cape Town, I would have invested in the infrastructure. You have to maintain infrastructure. You can’t let infrastructure decay over 30 years and then wonder why you can’t get water.
“The people in Westbury and Coronationville...rely on the Hurst Hill Reservoir. There’s plenty of water in the Vaal Dam. The heavens have given Joburg plenty of water. God has been good to Joburg, especially with respect to water.
“[But] they can’t fill the reservoir. Why? Because a third of the way up is a big crack that hasn’t been maintained. Now they take the water, they fill it up a third of the way, people have some water during some part of the day, and [then] there’s no water left.”
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