The elite team of expert administrators brought in to help resolve persistent water problems in eThekwini Municipality’s water unit has made a bold promise, saying water supply challenges will be eliminated within the next three years.
The team will be in place for one year but will lay the foundation that could be implemented over three years to address the water challenges.
“The people that are coming are seasoned individuals, but they are not replacing the current management of the unit ... this is not an intervention,” said a member of the team speaking on condition of anonymity.
The team members include former City manager in eThekwini Municipality Sibusiso Sithole, former Harry Gwala District Municipality manager Nandi Dlamini, and former Ugu District Municipality Water Services Authority executive Maxwell Pawandiwa.
The team held its first meeting last week and will be meeting with the different sections of the water unit to get a full appraisal of the state of the unit.
It is expected that the full scope of its work will develop properly next year.
In their first meeting, it was agreed that the emphasis would be on ensuring that there are no water interruptions during the festive season. Residents of areas north of Durban are on edge following severe water challenges in the recent past.
“Remember that there is a water master plan in place for development by the Department of Water and Sanitation.
We will be going according to that plan, but we will also be looking at where there are gaps in the plan and looking to augment those plans,” said the member of the team.
The member continued: “The objective here is to address the challenges that have plagued the unit and affected the delivery of water. The eThekwini unit was once the number one unit in the country; its water losses were not where they are now. The unit is now losing close to R2 billion in water. That is something that we will be focusing on.
“We will be looking at the nuts and bolts of the water operation to discover where the bottlenecks or the challenges are and address those challenges. We will be looking at direct problems like challenges leading to the intermittent water supply issues, ageing pipes needing to be replaced and whether the resources to help the unit function are being made available.
“We will also be looking at the relationship between the water unit and the other units and whether those other units are contributing to the challenges.
For instance, the water unit depends on the finance unit and the supply chain unit. We will be looking at whether those units are making available the necessary resources of the unit to deliver on its mandate, assess the supply problems in areas that have become hot spots.
“The water challenges cannot be resolved overnight. We all agree that the bulk of the challenges could be dealt with over the next three years,” said the member.
Speaking on the dangers faced by workers as several City employees have been killed, the team member said the killings or the alleged disputes about water tanker contracts would be left to the police to handle.
An official in the water unit said that while the killings were beyond the competencies of this team, this was something it should be concerned about as it affected staff morale.
“The situation is that workers find themselves in a situation where they question themselves as to whether they should speak out when they identify wrongdoing. They could be killed just for seeing something they were not supposed to see.
“They should also look at the issue of water tankers in the context that tankers should be used only to supply water when there is a crisis or areas that do not have infrastructure,” said the official.
Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda spoke about the establishment of the team last week, saying its appointment was proactive to deal with pressing water issues.
“They will be dealing with the issue of intermittent water supply problems.
The establishment of the support team is also aimed at ensuring the seamless implementation of the council-approved Water and Sanitation Turnaround Strategy.
“The scope of work for the team includes building internal capacity and putting appropriate systems and processes in place to deliver a water and sanitation service that meets customers’ needs,” said the mayor.
DA leader Thabani Mthethwa said they welcomed the appointment of the team, adding that the DA had pushed relentlessly for intervention in the unit.
“The DA, however, questions the technical qualifications and expertise of these three crack team members; much of the water supply issues in eThekwini happened during Sithole’s tenure as City manager”.
“We also question Pawandiwa’s inclusion in this team as it is a well-known fact that Ugu does not have much of a track record to boast about either, considering the desperate state of water supply which has driven tourists away and local business into the ground,” said Mthethwa.
The Mercury