Gauteng MEC for Education, Lebogang Maile, has welcomed an investigation recently instituted by the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) into the ongoing water crisis that has hurt communities and schools across the province.
During a media briefing held at Lyndhurst Primary School, Maile highlighted the importance of the investigation as a means to address the persistent challenges surrounding water service delivery, which dominated headlines in recent months.
The SAHRC recently announced that it is undertaking this investigative inquiry as part of its mandate to promote, protect, and monitor human rights in South Africa. Municipalities have been directed to account for their strategies in tackling the water challenges that have emerged as a matter of grave concern for residents.
“We welcome the investigation by the SAHRC, which is calling on municipalities to account. This important initiative is particularly critical as schools are also affected by these water disruptions. We hope that the process will yield valuable information to help us tackle some of these pressing issues,” said Maile.
Maile’s comment on the SAHRC investigation comes as the DA has claimed that Johannesburg Water is increasingly using water outages and upcoming Rand Water maintenance to justify “emergency” water tanker procurement, with the MEC saying he hopes the probe will uncover more details to arrest corrupt practices within the local government sphere.
Addressing the issue of service disruptions, Maile urged city mayors across the province to refrain from cutting essential services to schools due to outstanding payments. He asserted that such actions lead to unnecessary interruptions in the learning process, a right that is foundational in the education sector.
Maile also took a stance on the recent service cuts by the City of Tshwane, which disconnected the electricity supply to schools over unpaid property rates.
“We welcome the High Court in Pretoria that ordered the City of Tshwane to immediately restore electricity to schools disconnected over unpaid property rates in the administrative capital. This ruling prohibits further power cuts, confirming that schools should not face disconnection due to outstanding rates,” he remarked.
Maile further stated that some of the challenges faced by the department are linked to historical municipal debt and debt accumulated before the decentralisation policy was implemented.
“This leads to a second challenge, which is service disconnections, as evidenced in the case that led to the ruling in the city of Tshwane. Municipalities have disconnected electricity and water services at several schools due to unpaid accounts. Reports indicate that over a period of time, hundreds of public schools have faced service interruptions because of outstanding municipal debt,” he added.
Despite the financial strains, Maile reassured the public that the department is well-equipped to pay for water services, with an annual budget of R2 billion allocated specifically for this purpose.
“This leads to the fifth challenge, which is increased municipal debt. Municipalities in Gauteng are owed nearly 600 million by public schools, as I have indicated. This weakens municipal revenue collection and affects municipalities’ ability to provide sustainable services to communities,” Maile said.
Siyabonga Sithole
iol.co.za
