Durban – EThekwini Municipality’s unveiling of water tankers and tractors, worth R155 million drew mixed reaction from opposition parties in Durban on Wednesday.
According to eThekwini Mayor Councillor Mxolisi Kaunda, ratepayers paid about R132.8m for the purchase of 55 water tankers and R23.2m to buy 30 tractors.
Kaunda said the city’s acquisition of the water tankers was to ensure that residents received water during supply interruptions and will help it save millions on outsourcing to service providers.
Kaunda said the tractors will assist in the maintenance of public spaces and improve the municipality’s ability to maintain parks, sport fields and recreational facilities.
Mdu Nkosi, the IFP leader in eThekwini and an exco member, said the money for water tankers should have been used for infrastructure that will ensure all wards have water flowing to taps.
Nkosi said there have been allegations that people are closing valves to stop water flowing to certain areas and municipal water tankers have been mechanically sabotaged.
He said those responsible have not been brought to book and some of them could be working for the municipality.
“We need to attend to that (the allegations). While the new tankers have been launched, we are still waiting for the report that was commissioned to investigate whether it was true that the previous tankers did not have engine power to carry the load. We have heard allegations that tissues were found in a truck carburettor,” Nkosi said.
Thabani Mthethwa, the DA eThekwini caucus leader councillor, said he was pleased that these tankers had been procured.
“We will however closely monitor that these tankers are used and not the privately hired tankers. It is well-known that there has been widespread allegations of collusion between private tanker companies, politicians and some officials to a point where private tankers are used even when municipal-owned tankers are available. The DA will not allow the abuse of ratepayers' money to go unchallenged,” Mthethwa stated.
Visvin Reddy, the African Democratic Change (Adec) leader, said this move is definitely a step in the right direction as it will help to alleviate the high costs associated with hiring water tankers.
“Managing a fleet of water tankers is not an easy task and it requires the careful monitoring of drivers and regular servicing of vehicles. It is essential that the municipality invests in training staff and purchases monitoring equipment to ensure that these tankers can operate efficiently,” Reddy said.
Reddy said the Adec remains cautious and time will tell whether or not these investments will benefit the people of Durban.
“It is not enough to have state-of-the-art equipment. It must be properly managed to effectively improve service delivery.” Reddy said.
Patrick Pillay, the Democratic Liberal Congress (DLC) leader, said eThekwini is in an era whereby water outages are negatively affecting the livelihoods of communities and families. He agreed that it will save millions of rands in hiring costs, in the future.
“The DLC is concerned that these water tankers must be well-maintained and deployed fairly to all affected communities. Our suburbs, open spaces and recreational grounds have been neglected for many years. These tractors will complement the current fleet, but is not enough to effectively service all the wards consistently,” Pillay said.
Imtiaz Syed, President of Active Citizens Coalition (ACC), said the citizens of eThekwini must not be lied to and lead to believe that the tankers are for the benefit of community.
“How does the mayor believe that a city, 30 years into democracy, is excited about still supplying water in tankers, and on the very same token, that we spend millions on purchasing water tankers? Who do these tankers supply water to and when?”
Syed explained that the water that is supplied to communities by these tankers are called non-revenue water, meaning the city does not charge for it or get reimbursed.
He said this equates to 46% of water which is non-revenue or R138m a month that ratepayers have to fork out for water that they have not used.
“We are clearly a city that applauds poverty and short-sightedness. The mayor should in fact apologise to the ratepayers and the community this city calls indigent for raping the ratepayer to pay for these items and free water and, for allowing the indigent to continuously stay and live in abject poverty whilst charming them as if it's a great achievement to still be supplying water in tankers,” Syed said.
He said that the ACC also noted that the only reason a city would need as many tankers is because the infrastructure collapses at an unforgiving a rate and its ratepayers require emergency water when some are left wanting for days in some cases.
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