The commission said complaints it received related to widespread water shortages in communities; in some instances, no access to water for more than seven days; inconsistent water supply or water disconnection issues; lack of alternative measures, such as provisioning of water tankers; poor water quality and polluted water. It noted that demand far outweighed supply capacity, particularly in areas such as uMgungundlovu and eThekwini. Head of the KZN water inquiry, commissioner Philile Ntuli said municipalities lacked planning and were not addressing ageing infrastructure. "The impact on rights, livelihoods and dignity of communities is particularly aggravated in impoverished communities and vulnerable households ... "The commission finds the challenges outlined by municipalities and Water Services Authorities WSA reflect poor planning and management of resources, particularly with regards to nonrevenue water and maintenance of infrastructure." The commission said KZN municipalities had been reported to Parliament over the inability to deliver clean water. SAHRC deputy chairperson Chris Nissen said excuses from the entities ranged from "30 years was not enough to fix the problems", to old infrastructure and vandalism. "We also discovered that even when they provided water by tankers to different communities, we found that was also a problem as it was more a business, spending more money on procuring tankers than actually fixing the infrastructure." Regarding tanker issues, the panel said it had raised with then Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Sihle Zikalala the unintended consequence of the implementation of the watertankering system, in the form of emerging corruption, and damage to infrastructure to secure tenders to deliver water. It said it had found, following testimony received at the inquiry from various municipal entities and members of the public, that there were a number of challenges with the watertankering system. "These included inadequate and disproportionate supply to communities; manipulation and commercialisation of the system; the politicisation of the tankering system and possible financial benefit from the system by municipal officials and members of municipal councils." It called for the emerging corruption relating to the watertankering system to be addressed and for allegations of damage to infrastructure and manipulation of the tender mechanism to be investigated. The commission cited eThekwini Municipality, with areas such as Newlands West, oThongathi, Durban, uMlazi and Lamontville experiencing water interruptions on a daily basis. It recommended that municipalities, including eThekwini and uMgungundlovu District Municipality, "implement appropriate customercare divisions with a dedicated customerservices team; and institute callcentre mechanisms to receive and refer complaints, with appropriate standard operating procedures to ensure the maintenance of a register of complaints, maximum sixhour turnaround time to restore water service delivery and monitoring of resolution of complaints". DA provincial leader Francois Rodgers said the findings highlighted the dismal performance by KZN's ANCrun government. "Despite crippling issues affecting water provision to millions of people, it has done little to come to their aid. "The report is particularly damning in its findings on eThekwini. This includes a severe lack of accountability within government and shocking apathy when it comes to the interests of residents."

Source: The Mercuty