By Palesa Matlala
• The South African Human Rights Commission has launched an investigation into Gauteng’s ongoing water crisis affecting communities and schools.
• Gauteng schools owe municipalities nearly R600-million, leading to water and electricity disconnections that disrupt teaching and learning.
Gauteng Education MEC Lebogang Maile has welcomed an investigation by the South African Human Rights Commission into the province’s worsening water crisis.
Speaking during a media briefing at Lyndhurst Primary School, Maile said the investigation could help expose the causes behind ongoing water shortages affecting schools and communities.
The South African Human Rights Commission recently announced that it would investigate the crisis as part of its duty to protect and monitor human rights in South Africa.
Municipalities have been instructed to explain how they are dealing with water supply problems that continue to affect residents.
“We welcome the investigation by the South African Human Rights Commission, which is calling on municipalities to account,” said Maile.
“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.”
His comments come after the Democratic Alliance accused Johannesburg Water of using water outages and Rand Water maintenance work to justify emergency water tanker tenders.
Maile said he hopes the investigation will also uncover corruption linked to water procurement and service delivery failures within municipalities.
He also welcomed a Pretoria High Court ruling ordering the City of Tshwane to reconnect electricity to schools that had been cut off because of 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,” said Maile.
“This ruling confirms that schools should not face disconnection due to outstanding rates.”
Maile said many schools continue to struggle with historical municipal debt that built up before the decentralisation policy was introduced.
He said municipalities have disconnected electricity and water at several schools because of unpaid accounts.
“Reports indicate that over time, hundreds of public schools have faced service interruptions because of outstanding municipal debt,” he said.
Despite the challenges, Maile said the department has enough money to pay for water services.
He said the department spends R2-billion every year on water and related services.
Maile added that municipalities across Gauteng are owed nearly R600-million by public schools, putting more pressure on local governments already struggling to provide reliable services.
Image Caption: Gauteng Education MEC Lebogang Maile says schools are suffering because of water and electricity cuts.
Picture: Gauteng Department of Health
