The Democratic Alliance (DA) has asked ActionSA Parliamentary leader Athol Trollip and his party to immediately apologise to uMngeni Mayor Chris Pappas and uMngeni residents for what the party calls “unwarranted and illogical claims” made about the water crisis in eThekwini, in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).

This after ActionSA accused the DA-run uMngeni municipality of mismanaging sewage systems.

ActionSA’s Trollip pointed to an “apparent failure” by the municipality to maintain critical wastewater treatment infrastructure, which he claims has directly contributed to the water crisis in KZN.

A discovery of algae in State bulk water provider uMngeni-UThukela Water’s Durban Heights Water Treatment Works in August resulted in a reduced flow of water to municipalities, leaving many areas without supply while the algae is treated.

Trollip acknowledged that while the shutdown by uMngeni-UThukela Water resulted in a lack of water to residents, he claimed that the underlying cause was the DA-run municipality’s failure to maintain wastewater treatment pump stations.

ActionSA wants an urgent investigation into the water crisis, also urging the Department of Water and Sanitation and the Department of Environmental Affairs to take immediate action in holding the responsible parties to account and to ensure that such incidents are prevented in the future.

Meanwhile, DA KZN chairperson Dean Macpherson hit back at Trollip’s claims and said ActionSA’s “made-up reality”, had brought ActionSA to the conclusion that the local municipality was responsible for sewage and water, when it was the responsibility of the African National Congress-run district municipality.

This information was readily available through Google, he said, and added that for someone who had been a mayor himself, Trollip should have known this.

Macpherson stated that ActionSA’s “desperate attempt” to deflect from the growing anger across the country to “their newfound coalition with the Economic Freedom Fighters is now visible for all to see, and no one will be fooled by it, except ActionSA”.