By Mlungisi Gumede
Zulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini’s intervention in the water crisis in uMkhanyakude has borne fruit.
The uMkhanyakude District Municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal has received a licence from the Department of Water and Sanitation which gives the municipality direct access to the Jozini Dam.
During a business breakfast in Richards Bay, the king said it was worrying that the people of Jozini and the entire uMkhanyakude did not have access to clean water even though they lived next to the Jozini Dam. The king called on Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu to resolve the matter.
The municipality had been forced to seek permission and buy water from a family of farmers, as the family were the only ones in the entire district who had a licence to use water from the dam.
The cash-strapped municipality owed the family more than R6 million.
District Mayor Siphile Mdaka said they are happy that they now have a licence to use water from the Jozini Dam.
The lack of a licence “disrupted our mandate to provide water to the community”, said Mdaka.
Mdaka echoed the king’s sentiments, saying it was painful for them not to be able to serve people with water while there is a dam that is supposed to help them.
“Jozini Dam is one of the five largest dams in South Africa and the dam has the capacity to serve all people of uMkhanyakude District of 12,000 square kilometres,” he said.
Local Jozini resident Sipho Mphontshane said they are happy that the district municipality has the licence to use water from the dam.
“This is going to help us as the municipality is now going to be able to provide us with water and we will not have to fetch water from the rivers anymore,” he said.
Pictured above: King Misuzulu
Image source: Twitter
