Water purification plant another monument of corruption

11 December 2018

The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Northern Cape is calling on the Cooperative Governance MEC, Bentley Vass, to investigate the tender processes relating to the establishment of a three-year old dysfunctional water purification plant in Loxton.

The controversial R8 million project, completed back in 2015, has been left to become yet another white elephant and was only ever operational for a total of three weeks.

The international company that was awarded the tender in question, was reportedly never available for maintenance after the plant opened. At the same time, local contractors were not sufficiently clued up about the functioning of the plant, in turn making maintenance and repairs a costly and difficult exercise. In effect, it cost approximately R30 000 to clean the filter of the water pumps.

At the same time, due to the dynamics of the system, approximately 70 000 litres of water was wasted each time the filter had to be replaced.

Ubuntu municipality is a dysfunctional municipality and is in dire financial straits. R8 million could have gone a long way towards repairing and upgrading the water pipelines of the municipality, which would have gone much further towards ensuring a sustainable water source compared to the non-operational purification plant.

The DA will write to MEC Vass asking for an investigation and that consequence management be implemented relating to this project.

The water purification plant is another monument to corruption. We cannot tolerate a situation whereby funds intended for service delivery fill the pockets of connected individuals. Officials in Ubuntu Municipality need to be held accountable for this colossal flop.

Only change under a DA-led government will ensure that fraud is scraped off the agenda of municipalities and that service delivery meets the needs of the people we serve.

Issued by Andrew Louw, DA Northern Cape Premier Candidate, 11 December 2018