Sewer crisis: eThekwini mayor ridiculously downplays water and sanitation issue

23 March 2023

In a recent social media post, eThekwini Metro Municipality Mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda, announced that the city can confirm that a sum of R1.5 billion has been granted to the Municipality for the sole purpose of fixing infrastructure that was damaged during the April 2022 floods.

We note this development after the city of eThekwini was tremendously affected by the floods, displacing hundreds of people, leaving countless roads and bridges inaccessible, and numerous schools and infrastructure damaged, it has regrettably taken the government a trip around the sun and to court to allocate funds to begin repairs around the municipality.

Unfortunately we meet this development with great concern because of the R1.5 billion, only R300 million will be reserved for water and sanitation.

With the current state of the infrastructure of sewer pump-stations that have been spewing incalculable litres of raw sewage into river bodies and the ocean, and considering that 19 of the 27 Wastewater Treatments Works within the Municipality are not operational, resulting in the Municipality resorting to dumping 88 194 cubic metres of sludge into the ocean, further poisoning the environment and beachgoers, the allocation of R300 million is an absurd underfunding and demonstrates just how “seriously” the eThekwini Mayor takes this issue.

Surviving on sewer-pump stations that were developed during the Apartheid era, the fastest growing city in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) cannot afford to connect newly developed property to sewer pipelines that have reached capacity.

Currently, there is a billion-rand project that has stalled due to the issue of sewer pipelines not being able to accommodate any developments, as the Northern Wastewater Treatment Plant - where the project should be connected to - is non-operational.

This is a blow to the people of eThekwini as this would have created job opportunities for the residents, and it would have immensely contributed to the city's economy as well as that of the province since eThekwini contributes over 60% to the KZN economy.

It is embarrassing that city leaders are not prioritising the needs of the city in order to accommodate the growing population.

And it is for this reason that ActionSA has taken legal action against the Municipality for the interminable minimising of such atrocious conditions that will have long lasting effects on the city financially and infrastructurally.

During the last festive season, the city's tourism took a knock as tourism numbers saw a sharp decline, meaning that not enough capital was generated by the city as we have previously seen during previous festive seasons, and should the leaders continue down this rabbit hole, eThekwini will run aground.

It is very strange that the city of eThekwini has failed to submit their answering affidavits to the court, detailing why it has been challenging for them to repair sewer infrastructure in the city, further demonstrating that the leadership does not appreciate the situation with all due gravity.

Unfortunately, this is not just a matter of repairing dilapidated infrastructure; the city has to begin the construction of new infrastructure.

We cannot allow eThekwini to rot any further under the rule of the African National Congress (ANC), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the National Freedom Party (NFP) coalition. It is a blow for the people of eThekwini who have collectively removed the ANC from power, to have parties such as the EFF and NFP to take away that power from the people and hand it to the ANC to further deteriorate the living conditions of the residents of eThekwini.

Issued by Zwakele Mncwango, ActionSA KZN Provincial Chairperson, 23 March 2023