The war of words between City of Joburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda and water and sanitation minister Senzo Mchunu is continuing amid the deepening water crisis across the city.
Gwamanda yesterday lashed out at Mchunu after he and minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni recently scolded Gwamanda for not attending water crisis meetings.
Gwamanda said Mchunu was trying to hide the incompetence of officials in his department. He also said that he had not been formally invited to the water crisis meetings.
“The minister of water and sanitation [Mchunu] has a responsibility to supply bulk water and the current disruptions indicate a monumental incapacity to do so. He should be best advised to urgently attend to matters within his area of responsibility and to avoid creating dramatic smokescreens to shield the incompetence of his officials and entities.
“As the executive mayor, I attend meetings on invitation and no such invitation was formally submitted to me for a meeting with the minister. Similarly, just as the minister is appointed by the president to oversee water and sanitation, as the executive mayor I havean appointed member of the mayoral committee (MMC) responsible for water services.”
He said the MMC had attended all Mchunu’s water crisis meetings and had briefed a special mayoral committee meeting that Gwamanda had convened on the water crisis.
“I take serious exception to the fact that [Mchunu], and subsequently the minister in the presidency [Ntshavheni], single out Johannesburg as being non-responsive to their meetings and initiatives.
“In Johannesburg, we are focused on corrective actions to restore water supply and mitigate the crisis we have been plunged into by national incompetence and failure.
“Attending meetings may beprimary to the ministers but we have residents and hospitals to whom we must guarantee constant supply of water using tankers and other means.
“Those solutions we are implementing on the ground and not in meetings and boardro oms. ”
However, the war of words will serve as little consolation for the city’s residents, as some suburbs have not had water for about two weeks. Gwamanda said Rand Water, the city’s bulk water supplier, between August 24 and September 24, experienced numerous problems in regards to its infrastructure, negatively affecting different water supply systems in the city.
In addition, on September 19, Rand Water’s Zuikerbosch Water Purification Plant power lines were affected by the severe thunderstorm around midnight, which subsequently tripped the plant.
He said city officials were monitoring the system closely and noted considerable improvements in the recovery of reservoir storage capacity, while urging residents to comply with the water restrictions and to minimise water use.
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