The city is making serious strides to tackle current challenges

THERE is glaring evidence that the two waves of floods that hit our city earlier this year nearly destroyed our entire basic services infrastructure. While disaster relief funding from the national government was still being processed, the municipality mobilised internal financial resources. Our priority was the welfare of our citizens and all our stakeholders.

The eThekwini Municipality is the manufacturing and logistics hub of the country. Therefore, for goods to reach our port for export and imports, we must clear all hurdles that could pose a threat to this economic activity.

The recent data from Statistics South Africa that pointed out that our economy nosedived by 0.7% in the second quarter sketched a vivid picture of the harm this calamity caused to our city.

We have had instances where our water and sanitation pipes were damaged, resulting in cross-contamination. Water quality at our beaches is an example in this regard. It is, however, sad that following these challenges, including the Birchwood incident, some in our communities saw this as an ideal opportunity to spread disinformation that resulted in many of our residents panicking.

We want to make it categorically clear that this was an isolated incident. We were then inundated with calls from residents asking if our water was safe to drink. After noticing signs of contamination, we moved with speed to diagnose the source. It was found, and the incident was isolated and attended to expeditiously.

To date, the quality of water has improved substantially. This follows our own tests that we have been conducting daily. The Durban University of Technology’s Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology have recently carried out microbiological testing on samples that were taken randomly from the greater Durban area. Their results vindicated us. We, therefore, extend our gratitude to Professor Faizal Bux and all scientists who participated in this research for a job well done in allaying fears from the public.

It is, therefore, disinformation of the highest order that we provide water which is not suitable for human consumption. We also have our own laboratories whose sole responsibility is to test our water quality. The Umgeni Water Board, which sells water to us, also conducts its own tests at its laboratories. We will never derive any joy from feeding the public water that is contaminated. We must be mindful of the fact that in difficult times such as these, we need to work together to weather the storm because when disaster strike, it affects all of us.

Fanning disinformation does not help anyone but, instead, it makes matters worse. The discharge of raw sewage into our rivers that end up in our ocean is solely because of the damage inflicted on our infrastructure by floods. At the same time, we must contend with rampant vandalism to our infrastructure. I have lost count of repairs to sewage pump stations that we did in the past financial year. It amounted to millions that would have gone to other service-delivery projects had it not been for this illicit behaviour.

In other parts of the city, our communities have now resorted to connecting power illegally from our pump stations, causing circuit boards to trip, a recipe for the pump stations to malfunction. What happens next is raw sewage going straight to the river instead of being pumped to a treatment plant.

The clogging of our manholes is also adding to our woes. The blockage is largely caused by some members of the public not desisting from disposing alien objects in the systems. These objects are found each time our teams try to unblock them. This has caused the level of E coli at our beaches to rise to unacceptable standards. In the interest of public safety, it is against this background that we took a decision to close some of our beaches.

We were fully aware of the backlash from our stakeholders, but as a caring city, their welfare is permanently a priority. After conducting tests since we closed our beaches, the levels of E coli have dropped to acceptable standards. For this reason, we have taken a decision to open some of the beaches that we have listed in a media and public statement recently.

The Northern Treatment Works that was completely submerged in water during the floods is chief among the reasons behind the contamination of our water. So is the Johanna sewage pump station. Our teams have already commenced with work to get these two back into full operation. They are also hard at work to repair the Isipingo sewage pump station.

Once all these are recommissioned, our water will be virtually free of E coli.

Repair work is progressing well at the oThongathi Water Treatment Works, which was also destroyed by the floods. We are certain that by the end of October, residents from this area will be drinking from their taps. We fully understand their frustration, and are not folding our arms but are hard at work to return the situation to normalcy.

We condemn violent service delivery protests that are characterised by damage to property. They will never offer any solution to any challenges that we are facing. We have increased the number of water tankers in this area to 26 to ensure that everyone always has access to clean water. We are appealing to all our residents to bear with us as in two months’ time, this will be history.

We also have received an update from Umgeni Water Board on the work this water utility is doing in refurbishing Reservoir 3. After it was decommissioned, we introduced water rationing because uMngeni was only relying on two reservoirs. This meant the demand was outstripping the supply. The refurbishment is due to be completed in December. What compounded our woes was the damage to two water aqueducts that were feeding the Durban Heights Water Treatment Works from Nagle Dam. This resulted in us further introducing water rationing because of the incapacity of the system to deliver raw water for treatment in this facility.

Work here is also progressing well. Repairs are anticipated to be completed by November. Once all these are commissioned, the intermittent supply of water in some parts of the city will be a thing of the past. We are fully aware of interruptions of refuse collection in certain parts of the city. This is caused by the decision we took to reduce overtime by 50%. We were expecting pushback from our employees and trade unions, but we remain resolute.

We are not going to back down, because the city council has a responsibility of safeguarding taxpayers’ money. All metros are operating on a shoestring budget because of disasters such as Covid-19. As a result, it cannot be business as usual. We are appealing to leaders of unions to be honest with their members and explain to them the challenging times we are facing.

Overtime is granted only when there is a need and there is no employee that is entitled to it. It is therefore very disturbing that some of our employees go as far as downing tools, demanding that they must be allowed to work overtime. Employees that have used the city’s property, such as trucks, to block the flow of traffic have been identified, and disciplinary action is under way.

Led by our mayor, we have launched our Spring Clean-up Campaign recently in Isipingo.

Last week, we were in the CBD. Our message with this campaign is that keeping our city clean is everyone’s responsibility, not the city alone.

Our city will be spotlessly clean only when all of us change our mindset. We, therefore, urge everyone, in their small way, to play their part. When we pull together, definitely, we will make a discernible difference.

Following all these challenges I have alluded to above, we sincerely apologise to all our stakeholders for the inconvenience this may have caused.

We thought it was imperative to take this opportunity to report back to the public on behalf of the leadership regarding the strides we are making in tackling them. MSAWAKHE MAYISELA | Senior Manager Media Relations and City Spokesperson

We condemn violent service delivery protests that are characterised by damage to property. They will never offer any solution...