EThekwini blasted for failing to maintain water infrastructure after plumbing supplies run dry

Durban – The eThewkini Municipality does not have an adequate supply of compression of other plumbing fittings, which means it cannot repair certain burst pipes, leaks and broken water meters.

The admission by the municipality was revealed during a written reply to questions posed by DA councillor Billy Mzamo in terms of rule 27 of the Rules of Order.

The city, in response to a question on why the stores have not had sufficient materials, said: “Reasons for stock out for the compression fittings was that contract WS.7020 was declared a non-award because all submissions that were received were technically non-responsive.

“Reasons for the stock out on copper/brass fittings were that the tender validity expired over Covid-19 national lockdown and they could not be extended, and the tender was also declared a non-award”.

In a statement, Mzamo said that the city had admitted its “utter failure” in water maintenance in the Durban Metro.

“In essence, there is a lack in the supply of maintenance material to fix burst pipes, leaks and meters, such as compression fittings as well as copper and brass fittings,” Mzamo said.

“In the reply, the city has also admitted that plumbers are still attending to water-related complaints, but unable to do anything about it. Shockingly, they were still remunerated for their time,” he said.

Mzamo said that during recent DA oversight inspection to the Pinetown and Springfield water depots they we were able to confirm that the municipality did not have crucial spares in its stores to fix burst pipes, leaks and water meters, which in turn affected its response time and the stable supply of water to the residents of eThekwini.

“The DA will continue to monitor the situation and put pressure on the municipality to bring proper service delivery to the residents of eThekwini. Due to DA pressure, we are seeing that this issue of lack of maintenance spares is being addressed. The shortage of plumbing material has had a detrimental impact on the well-being of the residents in eThekwini and officials will be held accountable for this mess,” he said.

Earlier this year, the city revealed that its three big trade services, water, electricity, and sanitation, have cost close to a billion rand in losses.

About 51% of the city’s revenue for water is lost; the national benchmark should be between 15% and 30%.

IOL