Durban — While eThekwini Municipality mayor Mxolisi Kaunda addressed the public on the Service Delivery Recovery Plan on Wednesday, following the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) strike that has crippled service delivery across the City, Phoenix residents barricaded roads and burnt tyres in protest over electricity and water outages.
Residents said they had been without electricity for 10 days and on Wednesday water stopped, after days with low pressure.
Westham resident, Randy Bharath, said the community protested last Friday and on Sunday, too.
He said Ward 52 Councillor Samier Singh was only updating them via text, but the community encouraged him to engage face-to-face.
“We asked for the councillor numerous times and every time we tried, he wouldn’t come forth and engage.
“We asked the Public Order Police (POP) to contact him. They said they had three teams to protect him (each team has about 10 people) as he always mentioned his life was under threat.”
He said the main power box is at the intersection of Westham and Hexham, and they were told there’s an underground cable that has been blown.
“The police ensured that electricians were on their way. I even spoke to the mayor and he said the military has been deployed to assist the municipal workers and electricians to restore power,” Bharath said.
He could not go to work because as a community, “we need to unite and stand as one”, Bharath added.
Councillor Singh said he doesn’t like to see the residents suffer like this.
“I have tried every avenue possible to get help for someone to repair the cable affecting the parts of Lenham and Westham – off for 10 days – and also Redfern now. I even begged the mayor, the speaker, the city manager along with the deputy city manager,” Singh said.
On Tuesday evening, Ward 18 Councillor Melanie Brauteseth provided an update on the electricity outage in their area, which had affected residents for more than 30 hours in the Cowies Hill Park and Pinetown area.
“I have it confirmed that the problem is an underground MV cable fault. This needs staff to dig to expose the cable.
“Most staff are still too scared to work. The matter has been referred to the electricity depot and await details as to when this will be repaired.
“As per the officials, there still is no timeline for this. I will continue to follow-up and provide further information.
“Regarding the second large (Westville Pavillion to Kloof) outage at 4pm, we are expecting technicians to give us feedback in a couple of hours,” she said.
Kaunda appealed to community members to be patient as basic services have just started being restored.
He said the City understands their frustration but blockades cause a strain on resources as they also delay staff and prevent them from reaching areas to resolve water and electricity faults.
Negotiations with Samwu have resumed, he said, and a memorandum was issued by the union on Monday directing its members to return to work.
A task team formed to facilitate engagements between all affected parties has been given 14 days to compile a report, the mayor added.
Kaunda also sent his condolences to those who have lost their lives due to the strike and ensured that those responsible will be brought to book.
“To date, 81 employees are on precautionary suspension for misconduct committed during the illegal strike; 1 891 employees have been given notices of misconduct and 88 employees have been dismissed for their participation in the unlawful industrial action.
“With regards to electricity, as of Tuesday, we have been able to reduce electricity faults from 80 to 50.
“We attribute the partial restoration of electricity, water and refuse collection services to the assistance of law enforcement agencies and private securities who are playing a key role in escorting our staff to affected service delivery sites,” Kaunda said.
Regarding water, he said that as of December 13, a new meter reading contract commenced; two new meter reading platforms were also commissioned and implemented in the same period.
“In the January/February cycle, more than 500 000 properties were visited of which 393822 properties were billed on actual readings – an improvement from 22% to 75.51%.
“The remaining 127793 properties were estimated because meter readers could not obtain accurate readings either due to the meters being broken, vandalised or just inaccessible,” he said.
On waste collection, Kaunda said that since last week, a team of 300 volunteers has been put together to clean the Durban Central Business District and secondary CBDs such as Pinetown, Isipingo, Verulam, oThongathi and Hillcrest. Priority has been given to health-care facilities and businesses.
The City anticipates clearing the backlog of waste collection within two weeks, and 80% of depots are fully operational, he said.
The Council approved the transfer of a portion of land to the local community, a move which paves the way for the commencement of the establishment of the biggest landfill site in the City that will reduce waste to landfill and minimise waste management costs for the City.
“The project will also support effective waste management linked to climate change mitigation and adaptation through reducing waste entering the environment.
“Currently, the municipality has allocated R100 million for the construction of bulk infrastructure,” Kaunda said.
On February 27, eThekwini employees affiliated to Samwu downed tools over wages. As a result, waste collection, water and electricity city-wide have been negatively impacted.
With the 2024 national elections just over two months away, the impact could be dire for those jockeying for votes.
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Daily News