Umkhonto weSizwe Party member of Parliament, Visvin Reddy, and African Democratic Change eThekwini Municipality councillor, Niel Patchapen, have accused the City of prioritising profit over the lives of Queensburgh and Shallcross residents by diverting 70% of water meant for residential areas to industries in the area.
The two leaders recently led a protest at the gate of several industries south west of the City demanding that the City reduce water supply to companies and distribute it evenly.
Reddy, a former eThekwini councillor, said the water crisis in Queensburgh, Northdene, Malvern, Escombe, Shallcross, and surrounding areas has reached catastrophic levels – and the truth can no longer be hidden that corporate greed, municipal negligence, and political betrayal are to blame.
“For close to 300 days, residents have had no consistent water supply. They rely on erratic and often non-existent water tankers, while watching a certain company’s new plant consume over 50% of the entire area’s water – a fact recently confirmed by Head of Water, Ednick Msweli. This is a grotesque injustice that exposes the eThekwini Municipality’s shocking failure to prioritize its people,” said Reddy
He said among the hardest hit are vulnerable institutions like Cheshire Homes, where residents living with disabilities have been left to suffer in undignified conditions with no water, adding this is more than neglect but a shameful indictment of a city administration that has lost its soul.
“The municipality instead of protecting the people chose to protect profits. The MK Party stands firmly with the Northdene Water Crisis Committee and calls for Immediate rationing of water to industries and accountability for those who approved this reckless expansion,” concludes Reddy.
Councillor Patchapen said this is not just a water crisis, it is a moral crisis where the poor are being sacrificed so the rich can profit. This is a betrayal of the highest order, and the silence of the eThekwini coalition government is complicit in the suffering.
“We say no more. eThekwini belongs to its people, not to corporate interests. As a PR councillor representing the residents of Northdene, Queensburgh, Escombe, Malvern, Shallcross, Chatsworth, and surrounding areas—I am compelled to speak out against what appears to be the commercialisation of a basic human right: water,” said Patchapen.
The councillor called for an independent audit of water infrastructure, consumption, capacity, and leak-related losses across affected suburbs as well as an immediate moratorium on further industrial use of the reservoir until residential needs are met.
Briefing the City’s Executive Committee on Tuesday, head of Water and Sanitation Msweli confirmed that there is a company that is consuming 70% of water alone in the Queensburg area, however, he said there is a plan to connect the company from the southern aqueduct to mitigate the situation.
willem.phungula@inl.co.za
