Azra Hoosen | ah@radioislam.co.za
26 March 2024 | 10:30 CAT
2 min read

Amidst the persistent water crisis plaguing the Makhanda area, the Makana Citizens’ Front has sounded a call for urgent intervention from the national government. With the community facing enduring challenges stemming from almost a decade of water outages, the group’s plea underscores the dire need for immediate action to alleviate the crisis gripping the region.

Speaking to Radio Islam, Lungile Mxube, Chairperson of the Makana Citizens’ Front, said that the Minister of Water and Sanitation has failed the people of Makhanda.

“We are being treated like human pigs. It has been almost a decade without water. In 2022, we discovered corruption, abuse, and stealing in this municipality. We wrote to the minister detailing our findings and asked for his intervention, but there has been none,” he said.

Mxube attributed the root cause of the water crisis to corruption. “We are convinced that it is an organised criminal group operating within the water and sanitation department, colluding with municipal workers and many others,” he added.

In their pursuit of intervention, the Makana Citizens’ Front has outlined their next strategic move: launching a campaign to garner support by acquiring 20,000 signatures on their petition. However, according to Mxube, should their plea fall on deaf ears, the group has stated their intention to escalate the matter by taking it to court.

“We are collecting 20,000 signatures in a campaign to call the national government to urgently intervene in Makhanda before it is too late and for them to investigate all the monies allocated to Makhanda. There is also a lack of engineers, and the people who are working there are incompetent. We think the people of Makhanda deserve better,” he said.

LISTEN to the full interview with Muallimah Annisa Essack and Lungile Mxube, Chairperson of the Makana Citizens’ Front, here.