Chairperson of the Trading Services Committee Mdu Nkosi has raised questions about sabotage amid the ongoing water outages in parts of eThekwini Municipality. File Picture: Khaya Ngwenya Independent Newspapers
The ongoing water outages in eThekwini Municipality have led a senior councillor to question whether sabotage was taking place.
This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa, during his State of the Nation Address (Sona), hailed the success of the eThekwini Presidential Working Group (EPWG) which was formed to address some of the pressing challenges in the city.
The business community, which is represented in the group, acknowledged that there have been achievements, but said there were serious concerns regarding water and sanitation.
Water, in particular, is a significant concern in the city. Numerous water outages have prompted chairperson of the Trading Services Committee, Mdu Nkosi, to raise questions about possible sabotage.
The Trading Services Committee has oversight on the water and sanitation units.
Nkosi called on the police to investigate the water crisis.
“It is quite clear that something is amiss here; it cannot be that the water infrastructure fails simultaneously all over the city,” he said.
“Technical reports provided by city workers indicate that the city’s reservoirs are full of water. This implies that somewhere, the water is being deliberately shut off to certain communities to create instability,” he said.
Nkosi added that even if there were water leaks, it could not account for the severe shortages.
He also said that the leaks are not only due to ageing infrastructure but also because city infrastructure is being damaged through illegal connections.
He asserted that there could be some form of sabotage, potentially political or business-related, and called on the police to investigate the matter.
In April last year, the president established the EPWG to help the city address key challenges, including water supply problems.
In his Sona on Thursday, the president said the government will expand its support to municipalities that require assistance, drawing on the lessons learned from the EPWG.
He said there was “great progress in eThekwini” as they had implemented the district development model, which enables all key role players in government, business, labour, and community-based organisations to work together.
Andrzej Kiepiela, the co-ordinator of the KwaZulu-Natal Growth Coalition, stated that while the EPWG is on the right track, challenges remain in addressing water and sanitation issues, as well as the non-performance of lower-ranking officials.
“Progress has been made on the security of doing business in Durban due to close co-operation between SAPS, business, and the premier, promoting tourism, ports, and railways. We are moving in the right direction,” he said.
The Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry NPC said there was a need for a clear action plan on how the challenges in eThekwini Municipality will be addressed.
“With the Presidential eThekwini Working Group established, we believe we can fast-track the implementation of key reforms in eThekwini… Businesses still suffer from poor service delivery, which includes water shortages, unstable supply of electricity and inefficient waste removal services.”
Asad Gaffar, of the Westville Ratepayers Association, expressed scepticism about the success of the EPWG. “The Auditor-General’s report is in black and white: they have failed, and their presence is just another unnecessary cost to the ratepayers.”
He said the water crisis had reached breaking point. “We will be launching a massive protest campaign against the City.”
Ish Prahladh, of the eThekwini Ratepayers and Residents Association, said: “It is unfortunate that the president thinks the Presidential Working Group is working well.”
He said water supply, in particular, was a problem across the City.
Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said turning around the eThekwini Metro remains a work in progress.
“The president visited the city last year around November and received a report from all stakeholders. He was satisfied with the progress being made. That doesn’t mean every issue has been resolved and everything is perfect.”
Mluleki Mntungwa, spokesperson for the eThekwini mayor, said the concerns raised by Nkosi are just some of the matters that the executive committee is dealing with. He said they were calling for the engagement of law enforcement.
“There are four matters that the city is dealing with: vandalism of infrastructure, ageing infrastructure, supply exceeding demand, and illegal connections. However, there are measures that we are putting in place to address these situations,” he said.
Mntungwa said the City was pleased with Ramaphosa’s reflection on the work done by the presidential working group, adding that the City is working hard to improve services and is on track to becoming a premier destination.