Durban — The Democratic Alliance (DA) in eThekwini said it has noted with grave concern the steady decline in services rendered by the municipality’s water and sanitation unit where burst pipes, reservoir failures and never-ending sewage spills have become the order of the day.
DA eThekwini executive committee member (exco) and PR Councillor Yogis Govender during the DA’s oversight visit to the Durban Beachfront promenade, on Tuesday morning said that eThekwini Municipality has not seen any improvement. She said this is despite Mayor Councillor Mxolisi Kaunda’s proclaiming that the City is doing everything within its power to curb spiralling outages, water pipes bursting all over the Metro, water reservoirs failing because water pumps problems, and now the never-ending problems sewer spillages.
Illustrating the extent of the crisis, Govender said, “Something is indeed wrong in the state of eThekwini, as residents and ratepayers have reached their wits’ end with having electricity, water and sewer catastrophes almost everyday.
“With the festive season around the corner, it appears that once again eThekwini Municipality will not be able to offer residents and holidaymakers safe, clean beaches, free of pollution and free of sewage.
“The latest results from an independent research company on the state of eThekwini beaches, the survey showed alarming statistics of prime eThekwini beaches being severely contaminated and polluted”.
Govender further stated that the tests done by the research company indicated that most of Durban beaches that were tested for E. coli exceeded 500cfu/100ml, which was way more than the acceptable levels of E. coli water content.
She added that the high counts of E. coli indicated that the water was likely to be contaminated by human excrement, increasing the risk of exposure to pathogens that can cause illnesses and other diseases.
Durban beaches are reflecting unprecedented levels, with the highest ones recorded at Northern Works and Riverside, Govender continued.
She stated that while the ANC-led municipality is flaunting about spending millions on parties, catering, employee incentives, and “dubious” conferences and gala dinners, she said the City manager has no clear plan on how they are going to stop the sewer spillages.
She further said that no notice had been issued by eThekwini Municipality, around closing any of the beaches that were mentioned in the recent research report.
She added that the DA will write to the city manager demanding the closure of these beaches, and issue public notifications thereof.
“The extent of corruption, maladministration, fruitless and wasteful expenditure has become synonymous with the eThekwini Municipality.
“Only the DA can rescue eThekwini like the DA’s Mayor Councillor Chris Pappas did in uMngeni Local Municipality, Pietermaritzburg,” she affirmed.
Govender encouraged residents of eThekwini, and the KwaZulu-Natal province as a whole, to register and vote for the party that will change their lives for the better.
WhatsApp your views on this story to 071 485 7995.
Daily News