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“We need political stability to get to economic stability,” Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber CEO Denise van Huyssteen tells Peter Bruce as they chart their way through Gqeberha’s approaching water crisis.
Yes, while there is no water already in many city taps, and while some local dams have run dry due to years of drought, the fact is Gqeberha has a water management problem rather than an absence of water.
The problem is politics. The city has been run by unstable and squabbling coalitions since 2016, chasing the last remaining engineers and artisans out of their jobs. Now the chickens have come home to roost.
In theory, enough water can be pumped into the city from the Gariep Dam hundreds of kilometres away, but work is behind schedule and key pump stations don’t work. Load-shedding doesn’t help. Van Huyssteen has finally persuaded the council to allow businesses to fix leaking pipes, broken substations and other infrastructure. but it is late in the day. If this doesn’t work, nothing will.
Podcasts from the Edgeis a production ofTimesLIVE Podcasts.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
PODCAST: Gqeberha 2022 is not Cape Town 2018
“We need political stability to get to economic stability,” Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber CEO Denise van Huyssteen tells Peter Bruce as they chart their way through Gqeberha’s approaching water crisis.
Yes, while there is no water already in many city taps, and while some local dams have run dry due to years of drought, the fact is Gqeberha has a water management problem rather than an absence of water.
The problem is politics. The city has been run by unstable and squabbling coalitions since 2016, chasing the last remaining engineers and artisans out of their jobs. Now the chickens have come home to roost.
In theory, enough water can be pumped into the city from the Gariep Dam hundreds of kilometres away, but work is behind schedule and key pump stations don’t work. Load-shedding doesn’t help. Van Huyssteen has finally persuaded the council to allow businesses to fix leaking pipes, broken substations and other infrastructure. but it is late in the day. If this doesn’t work, nothing will.
Podcasts from the Edge is a production of TimesLIVE Podcasts.
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read more:
EDITORIAL: Dithering around ‘day zero’
CHRIS BARRON: Nelson Mandela Bay could have avoided water crisis, says Denise van Huyssteen
EDITORIAL: A chilling report on ANC delinquency
Municipalities go from bad to worse
GRAY MAGUIRE: Nelson Mandela Bay can take a leaf out of Cape Town’s day zero playbook
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