Water crisis: Calls for constitutional revamp

Calls have emerged for the Constitution to be amended to allow national government to take more control of managing South Africa's water supply and distribution.

Yesterday,Eyewitness Newspresented the findings of aspecial investigationinto the state of South Africa's water crisis.

Theinvestigation exploredclaims of corruption, pollution and fortunes being made through selling clean water.

The probe also looked at historic problems and migration patterns of communities.

Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has also been asked to conduct acomprehensive auditof water infrastructure and delivery.

Water expert Mike Muller says South Africa isn't on the doorstep of an Eskom-style crisis but corruption and incompetence at municipalities will cause more and more problems down the line.

"I think it is time that we need to consider a constitutional amendment that gives national government greater powers to intervene when there are clear cases of management failure."

EWN's investigation found communities who wait almost an entire day to fill their buckets, bathe in polluted streams and report developing skin rashes and other illness.

It also explored the booming business of selling clean drinking water to poor communities and saw Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa describe the situation as a"mammoth problem".

Meanwhile, Deputy Director General at the Department of Water and Environmental Affairs Trevor Balzer says the water issue in South Africa is not a crisis but amammoth challenge.

Source link

Media

Taxonomy

• Water Supply Design
• Water Governance