Residents suffer for Makana’s incompetence

Makana Municipality has been in the news across the country for all the wrong reasons. The citizens as well as vital educational, legal and other institutions falling under the municipality, have long suffered serious water insecurity. This insecurity does not stem from crippling drought but rather from an inefficient municipality bogged down by a bloated staff complement which gobbles up 43% of its annual budget.

According to the municipality, many employees lack the technical skills required to service the needs of the citizens, especially when it comes to water. Not only has most of the 100,000 strong population in Makhanda, Riebeek East and Alicedale suffered water outages due to technical incompetence, but it turns out that when there is water in the taps, it might well have dangerous levels of bacteria in it.

The November and December 2018 standard water tests showed “off the charts” coliform bacteria counts indicating fecal contamination of the water.

The employees have also been on prolonged industrial action, saying they have no protective clothing and no tools to ply their trade. This, says the municipality’s new executive mayor Mzukisi Mpahlwa, was due to a tendering glitch. The municipality fears that if it forces workers to do their jobs without the required clothing, it might render the municipality liable for damages. Citizens resorting to self-help cannot get into the clogged up municipal rubbish dump which is reportedly overfull. Informal dumps mushroom all over the city. The department of water & sanitation has warned the overloaded Belmont Valley sewage treatment works are at 150% capacity and untreated sewage is overflowing into the Kowie river systems. It says Makana Municipality can be taken to court for this.

Mpahlwa talks about the importance of rightsizing and consequence management.

But to date the only consequences being felt are by residents who are expected to pay for services not being rendered. Until there are consequences for those whose actions result in strikes, water outages, and compromised water quality there will be no change and the residents will continue to suffer.

Problems with water supply and quality, burgeoning dump sites and untreated sewage go unpunished