Durban - The latest figures detailing the attacks on eThekwini Municipality employees show that the metro is being held under siege by criminals, with more than 110 vehicles hijacked and staff members being wounded or traumatised this year.
Head of City fleet Malcolm Joshua gave the updated figure on the attacks this past weekend while speaking on the City video platform, eThekwini Matters. Joshua is tasked with managing close to 8 000 vehicles belonging to the municipality.
He said the waste and sanitation unit and electricity unit were the most affected by attacks because they were out in the field dealing with repairs.
The update comes after mayor Mxolisi Kaunda on Thursday last week said that the attacks on City employees had become a daily occurrence.
The mayor revealed this shortly after the City passed its budget for the 2023-2024 financial year which showed that ratepayers would be paying more for their water because of crime.
Included in the increase for water tariffs was 1% to fund security for City employees in the water unit.
The metro said staff in the water and sanitation unit were victims of attacks and R100 million had been set aside for security when they responded to service-delivery complaints.
Joshua said: “The number for the year so far is just over 110 vehicles that have been hijacked. They are all light commercial vehicles, meaning your bakkies. That has been the target.”
The modus operandi for these crimes, the head added, was that criminals targeted workers when they were on site or on standby and going home with the vehicle.
Comparing the national trends to what is happening in the municipality, Joshua said there were similarities in terms of the national crime statistics, pointing out that national crime statistics name uMlazi as a high risk for hijackings and it was also a problematic area for attacks.
“Thankfully, no City employee had been killed during the attacks. We are just grateful that we have not lost any lives, but some of our employees have been assaulted and a lot of them are dealing with the psychological trauma of the event itself.
“You can’t deliver any municipal services without a vehicle. The ability to deliver services is hampered, these are field operations,” Joshua added.
He said they were also branding their vehicles because they have been advised that non-branded vehicles were at higher risk.
“The community can really be our eyes out there, if the community supports us and the law enforcement, we can easily curb this, with the community support, it will really go a long way to (reduce the risk) to our employees facing this and our vehicles being hijacked,” he said.
He urged City employees to be alert, especially at night, adding that once they found themselves in a hijacking situation, they should not resist as that would increase the risk of being wounded by the hijackers.