THE DA has approached the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to avail its water tankers to bring water to communities.
The party also tabled three bills to minimise motions of no confidence as part of its plan to stabilise coalition governments.
Speaking at Inkululeko House in Bruma, Joburg on Monday, 18 March, DA Gauteng leader Solly Msimanga said the water crisis was crippling the province.
“We have tried to lobby the minister of defence. If you go to Pretoria West or around Valhalla, there are military water tankers that are sitting and not being used, yet we are spending hundreds of thousands every day to hire water tankers,” he said.
He said the DA believes a syndicate tampered with the water supply.
Msimanga said: “There are those who are benefiting from the chaos because when water tankers get to be used, then an exorbitant amount of money gets to be paid.
“This is why we have been calling for the South African National Defence Force to come in and help in terms of making sure we are able to tap into the resources that are already owned by government. It can actually help to lower the cost for municipalities.”
DA chief whip Siviwe Gwarube said endless motions of no confidence impede service delivery. “The bills will ensure the motions of no confidence are not rushed and are based on principles and not on positions,” she said.
She said the DA wants to “insulate” governments and service delivery from political instability.
“It's not right that the changing of hands at the political level becomes a problem for the citizens in terms of service delivery not being provided for. All these bills will make sure that we will limit frivolous motions of no confidence in the city, in the mayors and in the speakers unless those people are accused and proven to have broken the law,” said Gwarube.
She said another bill is aimed at introducing electoral thresholds which will require parties to obtain certain number of votes to have a seat in councils. She said this was not new in Mzansi.
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“We have them, but we want them to be legislated so we don’t see a scenario we see in the City of Joburg where a three-seat party has mayoralty,” she said.
Gwarube said she hopes the ANC will not be petty and support these bills and they get passed before Parliament rises in May.
She said: “Interestingly the ANC has indicated that they essentially want to see some legislative framework for coalition governments. I think perhaps this is recognition from their side that coalitions are here to stay.
“If the ANC is being petty and does not want to support these bills for political reasons, we are not married to having these bills in our name. These bills can be taken and become committee bills. As long as we get to have these things passed.”
DA KZN leader Christopher Pappas said time was running out to rescue KZN.
He said as more towns collapse and more cities collapse, the scale of the intervention to be put in place is becoming almost insurmountable.
“We all experienced the man-made disaster called load shedding that affects homes, businesses, safety and the economy. But there's a bigger looming crisis in our country and it's actually already started to unfold and that is water shedding.
“We know the inconvenience of living without electricity. Those who can afford it make a plan and we can cook with gas, wood and paraffin and we make we a plan to get by. Businesses buy generators, install solar at great expense. But water is at an incredibly precious resource, and you can't actually make these quick interventions like solar or cooking with gas and this is something that we face all over the country.”
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