Durban: FRUSTRATED oThongathi residents who have been dealing with ongoing water supply issues for years, including limited supply over the past six weeks, say lack of communication from the City regarding the issue was unacceptable.
A community meeting was held yesterday at the Tongaat Sports Centre, which was attended by a delegation of municipal officials led by eThekwini mayor Cyril Xaba. The hall was filled with more than 200 residents and councillors.
A memorandum of service delivery issues was handed over by the residents to the municipality, with water supply disruptions topping the list.
The residents said in the memorandum that they were deeply concerned about the persistent service delivery challenges affecting their community.
“Our community has endured significant water supply disruptions, notably following the April 2022 floods, which caused extensive damage to the Tongaat Water Treatment Works (TWTW). Despite repairs completed in October 2022, residents continue to experience intermittent water shortages on a regular basis.
“Over the past six weeks, we have experienced limited supply with no clear understanding and explanation from the line managers and technical staff,” stated the memorandum.
The City’s head of Water and Sanitation, Ednick Msweli, said the current challenge in the area is that the capacity to pump does not match the demand.
“We were fine for a while where capacity and demand were matching. Now when you have a burst pipe and the reservoir runs dry, you have to pump twice as fast to keep up with the high demand that we are currently experiencing,” he said.
Msweli noted that the April 2022 floods washed the water works away and they discovered that it was not just the water works that needed to be upgraded but also the water supply lines.
“Most of the lines that supply the reservoirs, especially the line behind Hambanathi, were completely gone, and that gave us quite a serious challenge, but even the others up to today need to be replaced,” he said.
Msweli said without the pipelines, water cannot be transferred, which means that while the problem at the water works has been solved, the lines now need to be fixed.
“An estimate from my internal staff says we need at least R300 million to R400 million to go and replace about five pipelines. That work is happening.”
Msweli said he would get the design around March next year and then budgets will be allocated through council before work begins.
“There is a long list of about two pages of projects that are happening, some at design stage, some at construction, and some are completed. You need all of them to solve the problems of Tongaat.”
Msweli said the issue of communication was raised quite often.
“We are trying to deal with it. Our systems need to be improved in the municipality, for example we should have a bulk messaging system.”
Residents who spoke at the meeting said they struggled to reach ward councillors for information and complained that the City does not warn residents when the water will be shut off, leaving them in the lurch, without an opportunity to plan.
Don Perumall, of the oThongathi Civic Association, said water is being switched off in the middle of the day and at night.
“We’re not aware. Middle of work, middle of production. People are at work. We’re unable to do things.”
He pleaded with the City to send messages to councillors to alert residents as to when the water would be shut off. He also called for other resources to get water into oThongathi.
“Even if you come to us and say Tongaat, we’re going to switch your water off for 24 hours to allow a reservoir to fill, we will understand and we will make the necessary plans, but the communication is lacking,” he said.
Sthembiso Moyo said in June they were hit by a storm that caused water pipes to burst and resulted in water gushing all over. “But from 3 June to 25 June the water bills came and we are asking where that came from. There are people who owe the municipality hundreds of thousands of rands because of that.”
Another resident from Emona said since December 1, he has had no water. “I can count the hours that I have had water, approximately six hours.”
Speaking as a resident who experiences the service delivery challenges, councillor Yogis Govender said oThongathi is being treated like a slum town on the North Coast while their neighbours who also have service delivery issues flourish.
Govender said residents were not given a proper technical explanation for what caused the system to collapse, which it has still not recovered from.
The mayor said he had taken heed of the complaints.
Xaba said the situation in the area would have been greatly improved were it not for the 2022 floods. Xaba also said people have to pay for the services they receive for the City to use this revenue to improve services, repair infrastructure, and boost the economy.
He said the City was making a profit of 12% in 2017 and in 2023 the profit is -7% due to customers receiving services and not paying for them, while others are connecting illegally.
