Durban — Frequent burst water pipes in the eThekwini Municipality have left residents high and dry in most areas because of the turnaround time to repair them.
Municipal records state that in the past three months 32 285 jobs were reported and attended to. Contractors were allocated 28 529 jobs while eThekwini Water and Sanitation (EWS) internal plumbers were allocated 5 564.
Active Citizens Coalition party councillor Imtiaz Syed said water repairs in the city were being conducted regularly by contractors. Syed said the enormity of these repairs affected residents daily. His concerns were addressed at a recent eThekwini full council meeting.
Ednick Msweli, head of eThekwini Municipality Water and Sanitation, said his unit employs 3 558 staff. Asked how many staff are plumbers who carry out repairs to the water supply system, Msweli stated there were 119 artisan plumbers.
They were allocated a vehicle each subject to the roadworthiness of the vehicle fleet. These staff assist to maintain the water infrastructure comprising more than 12 000km of water mains and 500 000 water connections.
Msweli said repairs and maintenance of infrastructure were conducted by numerous staff, including plumbers.
Syed was concerned about the abuse of municipal vehicles in the EWS (eThekwini Water Services) unit. Msweli said vehicles were monitored with the Netstar tracking device linked to the touch key allocated to all drivers in the unit.
Syed also raised concerns about overtime logged and claimed over the past three months by staff who repaired the water supply system. Msweli said 68 048 hours were claimed over the past three months.
Syed also enquired about key performance indicators to ensure internal staff were doing their jobs effectively and timeously.
Msweli said they were monitored by the Service Delivery and Budget Implementation Plan (SDBIP).
Daily News