Welding gas shortage in eThekwini to potentially cripple infrastructure repairs

This revelation comes after the Democratic Alliance (DA) published a statement alleging that the eThekwini Municipality has run out of the gas which is used in the repair of crucial infrastructure including water leaks and major steel pipe bursts or cracks because of a pay dispute between the municipality and its supplier.

DA eThekwini councillor, Mzamo Billy, stated that the unavailability of welding gas has a detrimental impact on the supply of water and the repair of major water-related complaints

“According to the information that the DA has received, there is a contract in place, however, the service provider is refusing to deliver because of outstanding payments from units within the very same cluster. This is totally unacceptable. Even more dreadful is the fact that there are critical service delivery projects which have been delayed due to the unavailability of welding gas. One of the projects where millions have been spent to upgrade the pipeline from Grange to Redcliffe Reservoir has still not been commissioned due to the unavailability of welding gas. The construction of the new pipeline feeding Redcliff Reservoir has been completed and now awaiting a tie that requires welding,” said Billy.

eThekwini Municipality spokesman, Msawakhe Mayisela, rubbished the claims made by the DA and said that loadshedding was to blame for water cuts.

“It is very incorrect for the DA to advance an argument to the effect that water outages are as a result of the city being low on stock. Like any other city, we have recently been severely affected by loadshedding which impacted negatively on uMngeni Water being able to pump water to feed our reservoirs. We cannot also deny the fact that like any other city, we have got challenges in regard to cable theft in some of our water pump stations which to a large extent result in residents being without water,” he said.

He stated that they also have challenges with regards to illegal connections to the infrastructure, resulting in it being overburdened and occasionally causing water outages in certain human settlements.

“But there will be instances where there are burst pipes which is something that happens anywhere, but we are proud of the turnaround time with regard to repairing those burst pipes,” added Mayisela.

He said the statement by the DA was an attempt to appeal to the ‘electorate’ ahead of the recently announced local government elections which is set to take place on October 27, 2021.