Water and Sanitation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu will this week meet with various stakeholders to brief them on the outcomes of the Cabinet meeting regarding the intervention in Emfuleni Local Municipality.

At the Cabinet meeting held last week, the Minister sought and received Cabinet’s approval for national government to intervene in Emfuleni Local Municipality.

This will see the Department of Water and Sanitation taking over water and sanitation services within the jurisdiction of the affected municipality, in accordance with Section 63 (2) of the Water Services Act, 1997 (Act 108 of 1997).

Rand Water has been appointed as the implementing agent.

Sisulu said the series of meetings with all affected parties will also seek to outline an implementation plan that will see the intervention being put into action without any delay.

“Now that our intervention has been approved by the Cabinet, we need to roll up our sleeves and hit the ground running. Let us focus on the challenge at hand and dedicate our energies to resolve water and sanitation challenges in Emfuleni once and for all,” Sisulu said in a statement.

While government is committed to do its part in rehabilitating existing infrastructure through making available the required resources, Sisulu implored the local leaders and community members to take ownership in protecting the infrastructure for “us to make this a collective and sustained success”.

“Vandalism of the infrastructure and throwing foreign objects into our sewer system is a problem that can only be dealt with by the community concerned.

“For us to achieve the expected results in Emfuleni, we need everyone to come on board. This is also a regional water and sanitation issue, with big socio-economic benefits,” Sisulu said.

Solidarity court application

Meanwhile, the Minister has advised members of the public to visit the website of the Department of Water and Sanitation to access and peruse the affidavit the department has filed in court last week in response to Solidarity’s urgent court action.

This follows the court papers brought forward to the Gauteng High Court by the trade union, Solidarity, forcing the department to reverse its decision to second Cuban engineers in the country.

The department said it will oppose a court application and will work within the confines of the law regarding the deployment of the Cuban engineers. 

Source: South African Government News Agency