EThekwini Fire Department in shambles, says DA

THE Democratic Alliance (DA) in eThekwini has called on the City’s Acting Manager, Sipho Cele, to urgently implement a plan of action amid what they are calling ‘the deteriorating state of fire stations across the municipality’.

In a recent informal enquiry by the DA, they detailed what they called ‘an embattled, crippled fire department.’ They said these conditions existed within various fire stations across the municipality.

Commenting on the issues plaguing the department, Councillor Yogiswarie Govender, member of the eThekwini Municipality Executive Committee, said: “This critical department seems to be almost completely debilitated with failures, by what can only be deemed as gross mismanagement, resulting in shortages in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), delays in procurement of uniforms, non-roadworthy fleet, unlicensed fire engines, damaged infrastructure, among others.”

Govender said a series of questions put to a council meeting were excluded from a sitting this month. “Clearly there are no satisfactory answers,” said Govender.

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Reports have come from credible sources of the challenges in local fire stations which include defective plumbing, air-conditioners and rear gates, poor general station maintenance, nil supply of oxygen cylinders for emergencies, lack of PPE and uniforms, lack of roadworthy fleet and non-roadworthy rescue pumpers resulting in a panel van used as a fire engine, and lack of necessary firefighting equipment.

“There is no urgency or compulsion by officials or city leadership to remedy the situation after this was brought to the fore. Instead, the adjustment budget contained a reprioritisation of funds to the tune of R6.5 million originally earmarked for specialist firefighting vehicles being redirected for the two contentious struggle statues,” said Govender, adding that a further sum of R1.3 million was adjusted away from purchasing vehicles to the benefit of beaches and museums.

“During the pandemic, statues, beaches and museums were non-essential. Firefighting services on the other hand are the difference between life and death for many communities, especially those ravaged by frequent shack fires. The DA has pledged to fight for the serious failings in this critical unit to be fixed and will demand a response, tangible remedial action with timelines,” concluded Govender.

eThekwini Municipality responds

EThekwini Municipality’s spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela responded to the allegations.
He said regarding shortages in PPE and delays in procurement of uniforms, the municipality was not aware of any uniform shortages in the Department.

“We can state that the Unit is currently in the process of changing its uniform colour and experienced some challenges with firefighting PPE not being locally manufactured. Procurement is currently underway to procure uniforms and PPE for immediate needs with open tender also underway for the bulk procurement,” he said.

He refuted the fact that the fleet was not roadworthy, stating that the municipality did, however, have some that could not be immediately repaired as original equipment manufacturer contracts expired in January. “City Fleet is currently repairing those vehicles and some are already back and utilised. The process to procure these repair services has started. The vehicles in use are roadworthy,” he said.
He said there were 10 unlicenced vehicles due to technical issues that have since been rectified and stated licensing is nearing completion.

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“Regarding damaged infrastructure, fire stations are utilised and occupied 24/7/365, all reported defects are on record and the normal process is followed for Architectural Maintenance Department to get service providers to effect repairs. Maintaining our stations has not been an issue, and this is done as per schedule,” he said.

Mayisela said budget reprioritisation is affected by many reasons. In the procurement planning process it was realised that spend will not be realised in the current financial year, and procurement planning is in progress for the next year.
“The majority of our emergency response vehicles are new, with the latest four units received at the end of June 2020. These allegations are all baseless and are meant to bring disrepute to the City’s name,” he said.

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