Plans are underway to address water crisis in eThekwini: Ramaphosa
African National Congress (ANC) President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that plans are underway to address the water crisis in eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal.
The province is facing a severe water crisis, with 13 out of 14 municipalities affected. This is due to ageing infrastructure, water losses and rising demand.
Ramaphosa says over 44% of households in eThekwini experience water outages lasting two days or more, which is the highest proportion among South Africa’s major metropolitan areas.
Speaking during a door-to-door campaign ahead of next week’s local government elections, Ramaphosa expresses confidence that the ANC would regain a majority on the metro council.
“Many of our people here are expressing a concern about jobs and currently water. They are raising the issue of water, but we have been able to explain to them that we are addressing the water challenge and we are sorting out the bulk water issues and installing pipes and we have been informing them that soon, the water problem will be over, we’ve also informed them that we have in sourced the water provision through the trucking of water as a temporary measure, whilst we wait to resolve the water problem by installing proper infrastructure and ensuring that there’s proper reticulation and we hoping that and we know that the ANC will do well once again and regain the majority in the metro council here.”
LGE 2026 | ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa on the campaign trail in KZN’s eThekwini region
Cost of electricity
Residents of Magabheni, south of Durban, have raised concerns over high electricity costs and an unreliable water supply. They raised these concerns with ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa during his campaign trail ahead of the November 4 elections. Interacting with one of the community members in the area, Ramaphosa says work is underway to reduce the cost of electricity.
“The problem is that they are doing things that are against the law, but eventually the cost of electricity will go down. Are you registered to get the electricity that is given to residents for free? Because you, granny, can qualify for this electricity that is given to indigent people; people who are on pension. They are supposed to get free electricity.”
