We interview Water Minister Pemmy Majodina, who hits back at MK Party over crisis 'grandstanding'
Minister Pemmy Majodina says it's up to municipalities to deliver water, rejecting claims she's avoiding responsibility for the crisis.
Picture: Pixabay.com
Ray White (in for Bongani Bingwa) speaks to Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina.
Listen below:
The Minister for Water and Sanitation has accused the MK Party of 'grandstanding on the pain of the people' after suggesting she was washing her hands of South Africa's ongoing water crisis.
Minister Pemmy Majodina tabled her department's budget in Parliament on Wednesday.
Afterwards, MK Party MP Vivsin Reddy told the National Assembly that Majodina could not wash her hands 'like Pontius Pilate' of the problems experienced in municipalities.
A few months ago, Reddy was expelled from the National Assembly for calling for the removal of Majodina as Minister.
The Minister is adament that it is the responsibility of municipalities to ensure residents have running water in their homes.
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"We can play our role... to support municipalities, and we are doing exactly that, but we cannot take over their responsibility."
- Minister Pemmy Majodina, Department of Water and Sanitation
"Where they are supposed to fix their leaks, it cannot be us to come and fix their assets."
- Minister Pemmy Majodina, Department of Water and Sanitation
"They are supposed to employ the correct people with the correct skills, and that is what is lacking. They must ringfence money to plough it back to the water infrastructure."
- Minister Pemmy Majodina, Department of Water and Sanitation
Majodina says Reddy, who previously served on the Umgeni Water board in KwaZulu-Natal, is being disingenuous in his accusations.
"The problem is that everybody wants to grandstand with the pain of our people."
- Minister Pemmy Majodina, Department of Water and Sanitation
"We lose water because of a lack of maintenance."
- Minister Pemmy Majodina, Department of Water and Sanitation
Majodina's budget comes as parts of South Africa continue to struggle with water outages and failing infrastructure.
Scroll up to listen to the full conversation.