Durban - Pietermaritzburg has been held hostage by cable theft and infrastructure vandalism.
Of late, some parts of the city have experienced power outages for days on end – not because of load shedding, but because of network failure due to cable theft.
These were among the challenges Msunduzi Municipality mayor Mzimkhulu Thebolla highlighted in delivering his medium-term revenue expenditure framework budget during a council sitting on Monday.
Other challenges included a lack of effective waste management, increased criminality, insufficient law enforcement, ineffective municipal service delivery, social ills and a deteriorating built environment.
Thebolla appealed to residents to act responsibly and report criminals. He said syndicates had multiple players involved, from petty criminals who extract copper cables and sell them to dealers, to sophisticated and organised structures.
“The acts are committed within our neighbourhoods and communities, sometimes by people we know. They steal infrastructure such as copper cables and electrical equipment to make easy money and with each incident, thousands of homes are left without electricity for many hours or days. Businesses that have no access to generators must close and unfortunately lose money as they cannot operate during that period. We need all hands on deck,” he said.
CLEANLINESS
Thebolla said he had engaged in countless conversations about the cleanliness of the city for years, and was always intrigued at people’s perceptions as to who should take responsibility for waste management; why some communities are seemingly unaware of the dangers of poor waste management; why others clean up fastidiously; and why still more adopt the mindset that littering is the local administration’s problem. He said people arrive daily to live and work in the city, placing significant pressure on waste-management systems.
ELECTRICITY AND WATER
In the previous 24 months, the municipality had rolled out an informal settlement and rural electrification programme which led to the installation of 455 connection points during the period under review.
An additional 912 informal and rural households would have electricity by the end of June. The City has managed an additional 35 new connections for water and 12 new sewer connections to formal dwellings. This was accompanied by the installation of 35 new water meters and as well as the replacement of 1 292.
Thebolla said this investment helped in ensuring that water losses in the past 12 months had improved to 30.8% (April 2022), which was lower than the loss of 33.1% in the previous financial year (April 2021).
TARIFF INCREASE
Thebolla said the preparation of tariffs was informed by national norms and standards and that tariffs for electricity and water were dictated by the National Energy Regulator of SA and the Umgeni Water Board.
“Considering the Eskom proposed increases, as the municipality we have adjusted the tariff at cost plus mark-up in order to invest in upgrading programmes to alleviate the pressure on dilapidated old infrastructure,” he said.
Thebolla said the budget had taken into consideration the plight of the poor. Tariff increases from July 1, 2022 are as follows: property rates 8%; electricity 7.47%; refuse 5.8%; sanitation 9%; water 6%; and other 12.41%.
“Umgeni Water and us have no additional mark-up to finance the demand for further capital outlay in areas where there is still no supply of potable water.”
CRIME
Thebolla said human resources responsible for law and order have accordingly been re-enforced; 26 traffic wardens, 65 traffic officers and six inspectors were in place. This would enhance safety in places such as schools and assist with visible policing and the enforcement of by-laws.
Daily News