The Democratic Alliance (DA) launched a petition in Hondeklip Bay and Koingnaas to put pressure on the Kamiesberg municipality to bring an end to the towns’ annual, holiday water shortages.
For years, locals have endured difficult festive seasons, largely due to the municipality’s ongoing failure to properly manage water supply during the hotter months, when there is also an influx of visitors. Underlying this problem is the longstanding failure of Kamiesberg municipality to repair the broken water telemetry system, necessitating the manual monitoring and control of the water supply systems. This has necessitated the manual refilling of the reservoir, leading to taps being unnecessarily turned off.
The water shortages have been detrimental to residents and especially local businesses, like guest houses, that have recurringly lost a lot of business in their busiest season.
The DA is calling on the Hondeklip Bay and Koingnaas communities to join us in standing up for their water rights. By adding their signature to the petition, they are demanding that measures be urgently taken to safeguard water provision through the implementation of long overdue interventions. In addition to repairing the water telemetry system, we also want the municipality to come up with a practical maintenance plan that includes the repair of all broken pumps and reinstallation of the air vents on the water system.
The DA further aims to secure a commitment from the municipality to not leave residents in the dark about the true extent of Kamiesberg water issues, as it has done in the past, and instead improve its communication plan.
The DA will continue fighting to ensure that the basic right to water is protected by municipalities, not violated.