People fetch water from a tanker during a strike by SA Municipal Workers’ Union members in Ugu municipality in November 2017. The area is still suffering water shortages and residents are fed up.
Image: JACKIE CLAUSEN
The managers of the Ugu district municipality have been summoned by the portfolio committee on co-operative governance to explain the ongoing water crisis on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast.

In a letter to the mayor, the committee’s chairperson, Faith Muthambi, said residents had called on the parliamentary committee to investigate ongoing water woes in the area.

“On the backdrop of this petition, the committee would like to invite the district municipality to a meeting at parliament on Friday to brief the committee on the petition,” she said.

Muthambi summoned the mayor, municipal manager, chief financial officer and heads of water, treasury and technical services in the district.

Municipal spokesman France Zama told TimesLIVE a delegation would appear before the portfolio committee on Friday.

Last month a KwaZulu-Natal family watched helplessly while their business premises burned to ground because there was no water in Margate and surrounding areas to douse the flames.

When large tankers arrived to extinguish the blaze at Plastic Recycling in Margate during the early hours of February 1, the Pienaars were hopeful that at least 50% of their business would be saved.

However, one tanker broke down on the way to the fire and the other ran out of water.

“When the working tanker was empty they went to refill it but there was no water in Margate to do so. They drove to Oslo Beach, to Marburg and Port Shepstone but there was no water anywhere. This is because of ongoing service delivery failure by Ugu. When we found out that Ugu could not supply us with water, we arranged with a farmer to pump water from his dam, but the fire brigade did not have a pump.”

“At this point the fire was completely out of control and we were left to stand and watch our business burn to the ground,” said Hester Pienaar.

The region has been plagued by water issues as its pipeline has been repeatedly “held hostage” and sabotaged.

Residents have resorted to using bottled water, ferrying water from as far as Durban back home or even moving out of the area as the water shortage escalates.

Two years ago, the region was declared a disaster area when hospitals‚ schools‚ clinics and homes had no water.

Truck drivers carrying water to communities were intimidated and municipal water tanks were stolen.