No material to fix burst pipes – claims DA
The oversight visit at the Pinetown and Springfield depot was prompted by the high number of water-related complaints.
ETHEKWINI Municipality has responded to the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) claims that the City does not have the material required to repair burst pipes, leaks and water meters.
City spokesperson, Msawakhe Mayisela said it is incorrect for the DA to advance an argument to the effect that water outages are as a result of the City being low on stock.
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“Like any other City we have recently been severely affected by load shedding which impacted negatively on uMngeni Water being able to pump water to feed our reservoirs,” said Mayisela.
The DA released a statement on Friday, 9 April stating they confirmed this through their oversight visit at the Pinetown and Springfield depot.
DA councillor, Mzamo Billy said the oversight was necessitated by the high number of water-related complaints which are not being resolved, leaving residents without water for days and even weeks.
ALSO READ: Patience wears thin with constant Pinetown water outages
Billy said what they witnessed was shocking.
“At the Springfield and Pinetown Depot, the store shelves which are supposed to have material to help plumbers to fix leaks and burst pipes in the City were completely empty.
He said the biggest challenge that all the stores have is the serious shortage of the fittings which are crucial for the day-to-day operation of the department.
According to Billy, they learnt that plumbers who are on duty often find themselves not being able to do their job when called due to the lack of material.
“When called to a job, without material, plumbers are unable to proceed and fix the complaint.
“More disappointingly, we have learnt that often plumbers have had to resort to digging in the depot rubbish to try and find an old material that can be reused to try and resolve a complaint,” he said.
In his response, Mayisela continued on to say eThekwini mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda provided an instruction to the effect that certain pump stations must be exempted from loadshedding.
ALSO READ: Multiple burst pipes in Queensburgh left unrepaired for weeks
“With such a noble decision, we expeditiously overcame the challenge of water outages which were a result of circumstances that were way beyond our control,” said Mayisela.
He added that during unforeseen water outages, the City always ensures that it mobilises its water tankers to affected areas as a temporal measure.
“We cannot also deny the fact that like any other City we have got challenges in regard to cable theft in some of our water pump stations which to a large extent result in residents being without water.
“We also have challenges with regard to illegal connections to our infrastructure resulting in it being overburdened and occasionally causing water outages in certain human settlements,” explained Mayisela.
He said there will be instances where there are burst pipes which is something that happens anywhere, but they are proud of the turnaround time with regards to repairing those burst pipes.
Caxton Local Media Covid-19 reporting
