Durban - The electricity department in the eThekwini Municipality has come under scrutiny as the ANC in the region on Wednesday expressed concerns that good governance had collapsed.
This, the party said, was compounded by the fact that the unit used to generate profit, but this was no longer the case.
The party raised the issue of electricity and water challenges as it briefed the media on the outcomes of its engagements of its lekgotla at the Durban Exhibition Centre last Friday and Saturday.
The eThekwini regional ANC leader Musa Nciki said: “Flowing from our lekgotla, the ANC is firmly focusing on ensuring energy sufficiency in response to rampant load shedding.
“In particular, as the ANC we remain worried about the general collapse of good governance in the eThekwini electricity department. Apart from the fact that this used to be a revenue-generating department for the city, we are concerned about the general performance of this unit.”
He said ANC members had agreed that mayor Mxolisi Kaunda and relevant officials in the council needed to attend to this issue urgently.
Nciki spoke of the general supply of electricity, saying eThekwini Municipality was only affected by load shedding stages 4 or higher.
“This was allowed by Eskom due to the extensive network damage during the floods in April. In the main, we are concerned about residents who remain without electricity for days, even when there is no load shedding,” he said.
He also said the region had received a presentation on the state of water from Water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu.
“The engagement with Comrade Mchunu focused on how to ensure water security for residents and how to deal with failing water infrastructure,” he said.
Nciki said water leaks associated with dilapidated water infrastructure had resulted in the loss of millions of litres of water. Recent reports had revealed that the city was losing more than 54% of its water because of leaks and theft.
“The national Department of Water and Sanitation will collaborate with eThekwini Municipality to rapidly increase bulk water supply. Engineers and other skilled artisans from the Department of Water and Sanitation will be deployed to eThekwini to deal with the maintenance and upgrade of water infrastructure,” he said.
“The focus will also be on the rollout of new water infrastructure.
“In the near future, Minister Mchunu and mayor Kaunda will elaborate more about water-supply projects to be constructed. These include the upper uMkhomazi Water Project – worth about R24 billion.”
DA councillor Thabani Mthethwa said they had warned the ANC about challenges in the electricity unit a long time ago.
“It’s a little too late for them to say this now. It is nothing but a face-saving statement. We, the DA, have been saying this for years and the ANC protected officials from that unit,” he said.