Free State failing on water supply: DA

01 February 2016 - 19:19 By Jeanette Chabalala
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The Free State province is one of the worst performing provinces, along with North West and the Northern Cape, the DA said.

This comes after the national department of water affairs released the 2014 Blue Drop report on Sunday.  

“Only two municipalities in the province, the Mangaung Metro Municipality and Metsimaholo local municipality, obtained the blue drop status,” the party’s provincial leader, Patricia Kopane, told reporters in Bloemfontein.  

She said the remaining municipalities in the Free State that received piped water supply did not meet the minimum standards.

Attempts to get the report from the department of water affairs were unsuccessful. Spokesperson, Mlimandela Ndamase, promised to send the report but it had not yet arrived at the time of publishing.  

Kopane raised concerns over drought relief and water supply in the province. “The province is currently experiencing the worst drought in decades... and it threatens food security,” said Kopane.  

The North West, Free State, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal have been declared drought disaster areas. Kopane said the R39 million set aside for drought relief in the province was insufficient.  

“It is a sad reality that the misallocation of resources in the province by the ANC-led government, as can be seen in the purchase of luxury cars for traditional leaders and the provincial government, shows a disdain and contempt towards the agricultural sector,” she said.    

She said it was worrying that the current drought would have a major impact on national, community and household food security. 

Kopane said the province needed to assist municipalities with purchasing water tankers to assist with water supply during the drought crisis. "Harsher sentences must be imposed on individuals and institutions who ignore measures to restrict water use during this crisis," she added.

Source: News24

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