Durban - The search for an Umgeni Water employee who disappeared into a pipeline system, has ended 5km from where he fell.
The body of James Mnyandu, 53, a veteran artisan fitter at the water utility, was recovered on Thursday afternoon.
IPSS Medical Rescue had joined police search and rescue teams trying to locate Mnyandu’s body since Tuesday night. He had fallen into water that was 2m deep, in a tunnel left exposed after its metal cover was stolen.
IPSS’s Paul Herbst said they had earlier on Thursday expanded their search to the Umgeni Water treatment plant in Reservoir Hills, more than 35km from where Mnyandu had fallen.
Mnyandu had toppled into a tunnel at one of the Nagle Dam aqueducts. There are four carrying water from Nagle Dam to the greater Durban area via the treatment plant in Reservoir Hills.
According to Umgeni Water spokesman, Shami Harichunder, Mnyandu had fallen into the tunnel after a metal door sealing it had been stolen, and metal plates around it vandalised.
Fixing
Mnyandu, who had worked for the water utility for 30 years, and two other artisans had been fixing a leak and he had gone back after they had finished to ensure everything was in order.
Herbst said while searching at Reservoir Hills, they received word that Umgeni staff working on a separate site of the same pipeline in uMshazi, near Inanda Dam, had spotted “something” in a tunnel.
“A police diver went into the tunnel, attached to a safety line with a safety diver, and medical team on standby.”
Mnyandu’s body was discovered there.
Harichunder said he was saddened by the incident, especially because the long-serving employee’s needless death had been caused by theft.
“These are important elements of infrastructure that have a serious impact on life and the provision of water supply.”
He said Umgeni Water would support the family as it had done since Mnyandu’s disappearance.
The water utility was probing the incident, as was the Department of Labour, whose spokesman, Nhlanhla Khumalo, on Thursday said representatives had been on site to investigate, as mandated with incidents of this nature.
“A preliminary report will be compiled and made available to parties concerned.”
Pietman Roos, a policy consultant with the SA Chamber of Commerce, said Mnyandu’s death was a prime example of the impact of metal theft.
“This emphasises just how detrimental metal theft is, not only economically but devastatingly for people’s lives.
“That metal item stolen and sold for R50 could cause unimaginable damage to property, infrastructure and life.
“The theft is extremely disproportionate to the value of the loss, whatever kind it may be,” Roos said.
Metal theft, according to Business Against Crime’s national project manager, David Lekota, was costing the country billions of rand each year.
“This is the cost of replacing the infrastructure, losses incurred during the period of in-operation while repairs are taking place, and of course, one cannot quantify the lives affected and lost.”
Lekota said metal theft was fuelled by the demand by unscrupulous dealers in the scrap metal industry.
“They steal metal in everything, from street lights, robots, taps, roofs – just anything, without considering not only the economic but the social impact as well.”
Mike Wilson, former chairman of the Metal Recyclers Association – he is also a scrap metal dealer in Durban – said the industry was now governed by the Second Hand Goods Act.
The act requires that scrap metal dealers request an ID and keep a copy as well as contact details of any person they buy scrap metal from.
Although the association was voluntary, it was recognised and accredited with other industry players as well as police. “We also perform audits on our members every year,” Wilson said.
This was to weed out dishonest dealers.
Roos said stolen metal was channelled through metal recyclers and scrap metal dealers. However, some was also being exported in containers, mostly to East Asia.
“There are definitely some elements of organisation in this crime. Some of these criminals are sophisticated enough that they are familiar with exports, are able to set up linkages to sell the metals around the world and are savvy enough to sidestep police and customs,” he said.
Roos called on community members to play a role in helping to curb metal theft by reporting thieves to the police.
Daily News