Richards Bay - The troubled Mhlathuze Water Board anchored in Richards Bay in northern KwaZulu-Natal will cease to exist at the end of this month.
Jobs are safe as all the entity's staff and assets will be moved to a new water board called Umngeni-uThukela water board to cover most of KwaZulu-Natal.
The new water board is named after the province’s two biggest rivers, Umgeni which joins the Indian Ocean in Durban and Uthukela which starts from the Drakensberg mountains and feeds several towns along the way until it joins the Indian Ocean near Mandeni.
The latest developments are contained in a government notice signed by Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu published on June 19.
The decision follows years of government plans to eventually have single water boards in each and every province.
“By virtue of the powers vested in me in terms of Section (28)(c)(d) of the Water Services Act, 1997 (Act No.108 of 1997), Senzo Mchunu, in my capacity as the Minister of Water and Sanitation, hereby give notice to
a) Disestablish Mhlathuze Water, effective from 30 June 2023.
b) Transfer of Staff, assets and liabilities of the former Mhlathuze Water to uMngeni-uThukela, effective 1 July 2023,” Mchunu wrote in a letter dated June 13 2023.
The new water board will cover the areas previously covered by the Umgeni water board which mainly covered Durban - Pietermaritzburg and Port Shepstone areas.
In the process, through its merging with this board, all areas like Richards Bay, Empangeni and industries will be incorporated.
“By the virtue of powers vested in me in terms of Section 28 of the Water Services Act, 1997 (Act No.108 of 1997) I, Senzo Mchunu, in my capacity as the Minister of Water and Sanitation, hereby give notice to extend the boundary of Umgeni Water to include the entire jurisdictional area of Mhlathuze Water to form a single Water Board in the KwaZulu-Natal Province, effective 01 July 2023,” reads another letter signed by Mchunu and attached in the government notice.
The new entity will also take over the ongoing multi-million rand projects to provide the people of Zululand and Umkhanyakude with water from the Jozini dam.
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