North West residents face sanitation crisis, Parliament hears
Parliament's water and sanitation portfolio committee heard troubling accounts of communities in the North West province lacking basic sanitation. MK Party MP Visvin Reddy reported that elderly residents are forced to defecate in plastic packets due to the absence of sanitation facilities. Deputy Minister David Mahlobo acknowledged similar experiences but defended the Department of Water and Sanitation's efforts, citing 400 projects aimed at supporting municipalities and emphasizing presidential involvement in elevating water as a national priority. Other MPs, including DA MP Stephen Moore, echoed concerns about failed infrastructure projects and boreholes that were drilled but never became functional. Deputy Minister Jack Bloom linked leadership failures in local government to the crisis, suggesting the upcoming municipal elections could be a turning point. The committee also received updates on water projects in Hammanskraal, Giyani, and KwaZulu-Natal, and noted issues like vandalism, cable theft, and unequipped boreholes due to funding shortfalls. Reddy urged the committee not to reduce the crisis to statistics, emphasizing the human dignity aspect of sanitation. The committee chairperson, Leonard Basson, confirmed members would submit written questions to track individual projects.