The Executive mayor for the Gert Sibande District Municipality (GSDM), Cllr Walter Mgomezulu, in his latest State of District Municipality Address (SODA), highlighted considerable strides GSDM have made towards supporting its local municipalities (LM’s) with regards to providing basic water services and infrastructure, despite not being a Water Services Authority (WSA) nor a Water Services Provider (WSP).
While these functions rest with municipalities within the district, GSDM provides water quality testing services for all local municipalities within their area of jurisdiction, as well as bulk infrastructure through funding from the Department of Water and Sanitation and from its own funds.
A total budget of R388 million was allocated in the 2023/24 financial year for the Regional Bulk Infrastructure (RBIG) at local municipalities.
The District is an Implementing Agent with funding from the Department of Water and Sanitation in the five local municipalities residing under Chief Albert Luthuli (CALM), Mkhondo, Lekwa, Dipaleseng and Msukaligwa Municipalities.Mgomezulu added that the District successfully handed over the upgraded Fortuna Water Treatment Plant in Dipaleseng, Balfour. By end of September 2024, the handover of the the eMpuluzi Water Treatment Works in CALM and the Breyten Water Treatment Works in Msukaligwa, would come into effect.
Statistics South Africa’s (SSA) 2022 Community Survey indicated that 85% of GSDM’s population have proper access to basic sanitation services. The major challenge is the ageing infrastructure and rise of new informal settlements, necessitating infrastructure increase, maintenance backlogs and sewer spillages throughout the network.He also said the GSDM Water Quality Laboratory, in May 2022, received its second accreditation from the SA National Accreditation System (SANAS), valid until May 2027.
During the five-year accreditation cycle, surveillance assessments are performed at 12-months intervals. The first surveillance assessment was performed in October 2023 during the 2023/24 financial year with SANAS maintaining the accreditation status. The next assessment is planned for October 2024. During the 2023/24 financial year, GSDM invested R1.41 million as a 60% subsidy in support of Local Municipalities for water quality testing. These and sampling services assist Local Municipalities to improve their Blue Drop and Green Drop certification scores.
In the current financial year- 2024/ 25 – we will be assisting municipalities that continue to score low in blue/ green and no drop assessment outcomes, “Mgomezulu said.Regarding roads, the GSDM is responsible for a total area of approximately 31 842 square kilometres. According to Road Asset Management Systems, GSDM has a road network of 4003 km of which 1304km (32%) is paved or tarred and 2699km are gravel roads making up 68% of the total network.
The District is implementing a Mu
