Maritzburg faces water cuts as it fails to plug losses
Ageing infrastructure, maladministration and allegations of sabotage in municipalities across KZN have led to erratic water supply as well as future developments being put on hold. By
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Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal’s capital city, tarnished by more than a decade of maladministration and corruption, is facing water shedding if it cannot arrest its excessive water losses, estimated to be at 29.5%, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) has been told.
The city’s “challenges” are not unique, as commissioners heard last week during an inquiry into water availability in the province.
Several local and district municipalities – including eThekwini Metro – appear to be fighting a losing battle against significant water losses, ageing and poorly maintained infrastructure, growing informal settlements that need to be serviced and maintained, and water networks allegedly being sabotaged for political or financial gain. So dire is the situation in Pietermaritzburg that Msunduzi Municipality has had to halt new housing developments and other projects that require bulk water services.
The city’s political and bureaucratic leadership told the SAHRC that they were well aware of the severity of the situation, but said that solutions to improving water security may only come to fruition in 18 months.
The municipality has been under administration in terms of Section 139 of the Constitution since 2019, but its political leadership continues to insist Msunduzi
will become a “benchmark” for water and sanitation services.
“Everything that we will be stating, it’s the honest truth,” Msunduzi Deputy Mayor Mxolisi Mkhize told the SAHRC.
He said Msunduzi would have other municipal leaders visiting the city to ask, “How did you do it?”
“This year, the council has prioritised water and sanitation… We said that we need to put ... nothing less than 10% aside in dealing with issues of repairs and maintenance. We want to address the challenge of an ageing infrastructure,” he said.
The Treasury recommends that 8% of the total value of all assets owned by a municipality be set aside in the budget to deal with repairs and maintenance.
The ANC, of which Mkhize is a member, has a oneseat coalition majority in the municipality.
Opposition parties are seeking to push through a vote of no confidence in Mayor Mzimkhulu Thebolla, who is facing headwinds in his own party.
In the motion brought by the DA, the mayor’s record is cited as one of failure to implement a financial recovery plan, that further interventions by the Treasury have been necessary, that the city is unable to provide basic services and that municipal entities, such as forestry, have collapsed.
Also appearing before the SAHRC was Brendan Sivparsad, Msunduzi’s senior manager for water and sanitation. He openly admitted to problems – and to breaking the law: “Yes, we do have challenges… We are in contravention of certain aspects of the Water Services Act.”
The city was in breach of its water licence because it was using more water than legally allowed to meet demand, he said, adding that this was the result of aged infrastructure. “In the entire Msunduzi, we use about 1,400 megalitres per day. We are exceeding our abstraction licence [issued by the Department of Water and Sanitation]…
We are continuously telling the Umgeni
Water Board that we need more water, but the abstraction licence only allows them to take so much,” said Sivparsad.
He said that water losses, including water used but not paid for, were at
29.5% of total usage.
“In terms of the water guidelines, we are three times worse in terms of burst pipes. So we are averaging about six burst pipes a day. Three years ago, we were averaging around four burst pipes a day. And it is increasing… I think 2,190 burst pipes were recorded last financial year, that averages at six a day.”
He said the municipality was investigating alleged sabotage: “There’s definitely an element of sabotage in our system, be it internal staff that are manipulating the system to get overtime, or be it external staff that are utilising our system to benefit themselves.”
The investigation would be completed in three months, he said.
Mike Greatwood, manager of the Water Services Authority in Msunduzi, said the city had been told by the Umgeni Water Board and the Department of Water and Sanitation that they were unhappy with Msunduzi taking more water than its licence allowed, and that forced water cuts may be implemented.
“Unless we do something about our water losses, we are going to have to be water shed in some way… We’re going to have to make do with less water on an annual basis than what we are presently using,” he said.
Development plans for housing developments had been placed on hold as a result of water issues, Greatwood said. He added that the problem was not of the city’s making, but that ageing infrastructure was to blame.
It would cost R2.3-billion to upgrade Msunduzi’s water and sanitation infrastructure, Greatwood said. Given the budget constraints, the projects would have to be completed over 25 years.
“Unless we get a grip on our water losses and reduce our daily consumption, we’re not going to be able to expand our network. What we’re planning to do is to put a lot of effort into reducing those physical losses from 29.5% to 25%. If we do that, it enables us to buy less water. Or at least the water that we save can go towards development,” he said.
In its submission, the Msunduzi Association of Residents and Ratepayers and Civics told the SAHRC that the city was in breach of its constitutional obligations. “We work in an environment of political interference and cadre deployment of unskilled, unqualified and inexperienced managers, which has contributed significantly towards poor management of the municipality,” said Anthony Waldhausen, the body’s chair.
The picture is no better at neighbouring district municipalities that are responsible for a host of local rural municipalities
across the province.
uMgungundlovu District Municipality Mayor Mzi Zuma told the SAHRC that laying infrastructure across the district would cost about R2.9-billion over 15 years.
He cited ageing infrastructure and chronic underspending on repairs and maintenance as key drivers of the problems in the district, coupled with poor intergovernmental planning.
“There are at least 14 human settlement projects that have stalled for years because there couldn’t be a commitment from the district to provide the infrastructure to those particular projects. Of course, it is an indicator that cooperative governance and integrated development planning is really still a work in progress.”
Zuma said that ageing infrastructure remained a challenge as not enough was being budgeted each cycle for repairs and maintenance.
The uThukela District Municipality – also under Section 139 administration – cited serious issues with the capacity of its own staff.
Acting municipal manager Mpumelelo Mnguni told the SAHRC that in a district that was 75% rural, ageing infrastructure and a lack of quality staff were a serious concern.
Water tankers seconded by the district were often expensive and, in some cases, “jalopy water tankers”.
Vandalism had also become “synonymous with the district”, he said.
The Umgeni Water Board told the commission that water losses in KwaZulu-Natal stood at about 35% to 40% of total water purchased.