Regular water shortages in many parts of eThekwini have made life difficult for residents who now fear a festive season with dry taps.
The majority of eThekwini’s northern areas, including Inanda, KwaMashu, Phoenix, Tongaat, Cornubia, Umhlanga and Durban North, have been experiencing interrupted water supply.
The municipality has attributed the issues to repairing the uMngeni-Uthukela water line, which was washed away by floods.
The DA has written to KwaZulu-Natal co-operative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) MEC Bongi Sithole-Moloi, raising concerns about the dire water situation in eThekwini, saying it seriously affects the quality of life.
In the letter, the party said that this, coupled with the shocking numbers of E. coli pollution on the metro beaches, could mean yet another shockingly disappointing holiday season for the metro and the province.
Last week, the water-quality tests done by Talbot Laboratories, an independent water-testing firm, and the municipality recorded E. coli counts that, in some cases, were more than 20 times beyond the acceptable range of 500 per 100ml.
Tests carried out on November 16 at Point, uShaka, South, North, Battery and Country Club beaches showed critical levels had been reached on that day.
“This is the time to put our political differences aside and face the serious challenges. We cannot allow the metro to collapse into an increasing decline where it stumbles from one crisis to another. The people of eThekwini deserve better than this, whatever their socioeconomic background, race and political affiliation. It is also important to remember that, in this province, if eThekwini fails, KZN will fail,” said DA spokesperson on Cogta Martin Meyer.
Meyer proposed that Sithole-Moloi meet opposition party leaders in eThekwini, ratepayers’ groups and other civic groups in the city to hear from them about the challenges facing the residents of eThekwini daily.
It’s unacceptable. Other ratepayers boycotted their rates, and they lost a court case, and now they have to pay. We can’t do that, but it’s very important that we find ways to make this work.
— Terry MacLarty, Umhlanga Ratepayers and Residents Association chairperson
He also proposed that Sithole-Moloi invoke Section 139(1)(b) of the constitution and put the metro under administration, appointing a competent, professional and non-politically aligned administrator to take the reins in the metro.
“You cannot sit by while the elderly have to carry heavy water-bottles having filled them at water tankers, if the tankers do come. You cannot sit by while mothers with small children, families or the unemployed who cannot buy water go days or weeks without water. You cannot sit by while the fragile tourism sector in the metro collapses, leading to job loss, more unemployment and poverty in the metro and our province,” said Meyer in a letter.
Umhlanga Ratepayers and Residents Association (Urra) chairperson Terry MacLarty said the situation has been deteriorating for months now, with more and more residents experiencing outages.
MacLarty said the majority of ratepayers and businesses in the upper Umhlanga area go for more than three days without water, which is an issue the municipality was aware of.
She said this was concerning and could affect how residents and tourists enjoy their festive seasons.
“We plan to meet the city officials next week to try to find a solution to the matter. It is a problem because they come to fix it, and it takes about three days for the reservoirs to be full, and during that time, residents don’t have water. It’s unacceptable. Other ratepayers boycotted their rates, and they lost a court case, and now they have to pay. We can’t do that, but it’s very important that we find ways to make this work,” said MacLarty.
A resident from Cornubia, Sanele Mthethwa, said in some weeks, they would have no water for more than two days and sometimes three days.
“Last week, there was no water for like two days. We woke up in the morning and there was water, but then later, there was nothing. No-one is communicating with us about what is going on; it just comes and goes. The most important thing to do is to just keep 5-litre bottles in your house, and you will be sorted,” said Mthethwa, who added the municipality was not sending in water tankers.
On Tuesday, eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda apologised to residents for the water outages and said fixing the line was important.
Kaunda was speaking during a media briefing where he was also joined by Adv Vusi Khuzwayo, board of uMngeni-uThukela Water chairperson.
“You will recall that our water infrastructure was one of the casualties of the April 2022 floods. The disastrous effects of the floods took a heavy toll on two of the uMngeni-uThukela Water aqueducts. These large-diameter pipelines are the mainstay of our bulk water provision system to the greater eThekwini metro region, as they are responsible for churning out 550 megalitres of water daily,” he said.
Kaunda said while trying to repair the lines, there were a few shutdowns of the Durban Heights waterworks, which, unfortunately, led to interruptions in the supply of water in eThekwini and many other areas.
Kaunda said this was an inevitable setback in the process of getting the two pipelines to maximum functionality.
Kaunda said the city has completed the repairs to aqueduct 2 in time for its recommissioning in December, ahead of the start of the festive season.
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