Metro stands still on water leaks
PRESIDENT Zuma’s War on Leaks project has yet to kick off in Buffalo City Metro (BCM) despite the metro training more than 100 agents eight months ago.
The agents claim that attempts to get direction from BCM on whether they will be hired to find leaks has fallen on deaf ears.
Cebo Mzanywa, 31, from Mdantsane said he was thrilled to be selected out of hundreds of other unemployed hopefuls, convinced his days of unemployment were over. Now he feels the exercise was futile.
“I am appalled by the fact that BCM allowed so many people to acquire skills only to allow these skills to go to waste,” said Mzanywa.
BCM’s 2015-16 Integrated Development Plan (IDP), promoted by former mayor, now BCM speaker Alfred Mtsi’s administration, stated openly that the collapse of the vital water infrastructure systems meant that BCM was poised on the brink of disaster.
The IDP reported that pipes were cracking, which meant drinking water was being wasted while toxic sewage was spilling onto streets and into rivers and the ocean.
Mzanywa, who underwent eight months of training, said the leak finders had tried to speak to Mtsi, the provincial water and sanitation department and the office of the city manager, all without success.
“The last e-mail we received from the city was on June 24 and it gave no indication of whether we would be absorbed by the municipality as promised by the President,” he said.
Zuma launched the programme last year in Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, saying his government aimed to train 15 000 young people.
Mzanywa said: “As a last resort the agents have written to the President asking for an intervention. We have been hearing reports that the group that we trained with from other municipalities have been utilised by their municipalities.
“In BCM there is not even a plan that is in place that speaks of what will be done with the water agents,” said Mzanywa.
BCM spokesman Sibusiso Cindi said he was still awaiting information from officials and had not responded at the time of writing.