New date for SA Human Rights Commission inquiry on access to water in KZN

Bulelani Majola walked passed a dry tap of water with a bucket of water from the river at KwaMadlala the day after local government elections on first of November 2021. File Picture: Bongani Mbatha: African News Agency /ANA

Bulelani Majola walked passed a dry tap of water with a bucket of water from the river at KwaMadlala the day after local government elections on first of November 2021. File Picture: Bongani Mbatha: African News Agency /ANA

Published Jul 27, 2022

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Durban — The South African Human Rights Commission has set new dates for its KwaZulu-Natal Inquiry on access to water.

Earlier this month, the commission postponed the inquiry which was to have run from July 4 to July 15.

The postponement was necessitated by challenges involving scheduling as the commission seeks to hear a range of stakeholders, some of whom are no longer able to attend during the scheduled dates.

The new dates for the inquiry are August 15 to 19.

The inquiry will be held in Durban.

The commission said that in recent years, the provincial office had been inundated with complaints about access to water in various districts in the province, which remains a day-to-day challenge for many across the province.

“Most municipalities’ responses to the complaints are inadequate in that they are unable to provide appropriate and sustainable redress to the communities,” the commission said.

“As such these complaints amount to a violation of the basic human right to sufficient clean water and, given its far-reaching impact on affected communities, there is a need for a strategic intervention to address these challenges.”

The commission said the inquiry would inquire into, make findings, report on and make recommendations and/or directives concerning the following:

  • The extent of the challenges of KZN communities about access to clean drinking water;
  • The nature of the violations;
  • The extent to which the organs of state have respected, protected, promoted and fulfilled the right to sufficient water;
  • The reasonableness of measures, including legislation, by-laws, policies and programmes adopted by organs of state to ensure the right to sufficient water.

The aim of the inquiry is to determine whether water service authorities in KwaZulu-Natal have violated residents’ rights to access clean drinking water as provided for in national legislation as well as in the Constitution, and if so, what interventions are being implemented by the state to resolve and prevent the recurrence of the violations.

The commission invites submissions from those who have information that can assist in this investigation. It will accept both written and oral submissions from identified government departments, state entities, business chambers, communities and other interested parties for the purposes of the inquiry.

Interested parties who wish to make submissions, may do so by August 8 using the following options:

PO Box 1456

Durban

4000

The inquiry will be streamed live on the commission’s website (www.sahrc.org.za), Facebook (South African Human Rights Commission) and YouTube (SAHRC1) pages. Stream links to be shared closer to the event.

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