‘Makana residents have been failed at every level’

Residents in the Makana municipality have been failed at every level, with a damning new report by the SA Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) declaring the area’s ongoing water and sanitation crisis a violation of fundamental constitutional rights. After more than three years of investigations, complaints and testimony, the commission concluded that the collapse of basic services in Makhanda and surrounding areas was due to a deep-rooted breakdown in governance, accountability and infrastructure management. The report, released in Makhanda on Wednesday, painted a bleak picture of daily life for residents, who have endured prolonged water outages, overflowing sewage, failing sanitation systems and environmental contamination.

SAHRC commissioner Dr Henk Boshoff asked: “Are we not witnessing the characteristics of a municipality that doesn’t care about its community and residents?” Boshoff said residents in Makana were living lives of indignity. In an extraordinary escalation, the SAHRC recommended that the Eastern Cape government consider dissolving the Makana municipal council under Section 139(1)(c) of the constitution — a last resort intervention reserved for severely dysfunctional municipalities. It also called for a review on whether Makana should continue to manage its own water services, suggesting these responsibilities may need to be handed over to a more capable authority.

Makana manages Makhanda, Alicedale, Riebeeck East and several surrounding rural villages and farming communities. The SAHRC found that the crisis in Makana was not primarily caused by a lack of available water resources. “It is the result of governance failures, infrastructure deterioration, weak accountability and institutional instability.”