KUGOMPO CITY - The South African Human Rights Commission has released a scathing report against the Eastern Cape Makana Local Municipality.
This follows a multi-year probe into persistent water, sanitation, and wastewater crises.
The report cited systemic and structural failures that violated residents' constitutional rights to dignity.
As such, the commission recommended that the Eastern Cape Provincial Executive assess whether the dissolution of the council of the troubled local municipality can be considered as a measure of last resort.
READ | Makana Municipality plagued with persistent service delivery issues
Commissioner with the SAHRC, Henk Boshoff, said while governance failures can not be ignored, there are service delivery failures in the Makana municipality.
According to Boshoff, the recommendation to dissolve the municipal council is because nothing else has worked.
Among other recommendations set out by the commission are the continued enforcement action by the Department of Water and Sanitation where there is persistent non-compliance.
At the same time, there must be a consideration of a criminal and enforcement mechanism available under water legislation, where appropriate.