Letter: Providing water and sanitation services to all

Cllr Siduduzo Gumede, Mayor of iLembe district municipality, writes:

The letters by former ‘Dolphin Coast’ councillors Trevor Thompson, Ian Coates and Feisal Dawood (The North Coast Courier, February 19 and March 12) are referred to here.

iLembe district municipality entered into a concession agreement with Siza Water for a period of 30 years and it is now 8 years to go before this contract ends.

In the contract, iLembe remains the water service authority and only surrendered rights for water service provision for the ‘Dolphin Coast’ area of Ballito and the surrounding areas such as Sheffield Beach, Salt Rock, Shaka’s Rock, Umhlali etc. as well as Shayamoya, Nkobongo, Shakashead and eTete to Siza Water.

With Ballito, Sheffield Beach, Salt Rock, Shaka’s Rock and Umhlali having highest earner consumers and newly developed areas, the concessionaire (Siza) has installed newly laid infrastructure with limited operational challenges.

Just across the N2 freeway where Siza offers a similar service to Shayamoya, Nkobongo, Shakashead and eTete, these poor communities are however still receiving water from standpipes with irregular supply.

Over and above that, these areas are densely populated and the level of sanitation services are old VIP toilets.

Siza is failing to de-sludge these toilets and these communities are subjected to unhealthy hygiene conditions.

iLembe has intervened in this case and is providing this essential service.

Siza Water also does not offer free basic water to these townships and instead the district municipality gets billed to pay for the services.

The letters by Thompson, Coates and Dawood make no mention of the challenges in these predominantly African areas, which on its own is a clear indication of the former councillors’ bias.

As mentioned, the concession agreement comes to an end in 8 years.

During the current 5-year review of the contract, it has been agreed that the handover process should be mapped and agreed upon.

In the last 5 years of the agreement, iLembe and Siza Water will work together to ensure that the information of Siza Water’s operation in terms of technical operations, conditions of infrastructure, list of assets and financial information (customer database, accounts status, age analysis and billing information) is handed over to the district municipality.

At the end of the agreement, the contract with Siza Water will be taken over as a going concern.

This then puts to rest the issues of capacity because all personnel systems and assets will be transferred over to iLembe district municipality to continue providing services.

Once the details of the hand-over from Siza Water to iLembe district is finalised, iLembe DM will notify communities through credible media platforms and its own website and social media sites of the date of handover and administrative changes.

iLembe district municipality and Siza Water will, working together, ensure a seamless transition with minimal inconvenience to ratepayers and residents.

The district municipality is committed to providing water and sanitation services to all in iLembe, ie. KwaDukuza, Mandeni, Ndwedwe and Maphumulo and at the end of the concession agreement we will continue to do the work we have been tasked to do in line with our vision which states, “By 2030 iLembe district municipality will be a sustainable people-centred economic hub providing excellent services and quality of life.”

Whenever a newspaper receives a letter to an editor relating to institutions, the onus is always on the publication to afford the organisations mentioned in the letter an opportunity to respond.

We have noted with disappointment that this is not always the case with The North Coast Courier when it comes to this district municipality.

Letters relating to this matter were published and not once was the district municipality contacted for comment.

We must state on record, our disappointment with the Courier for failing to give this district municipality an opportunity to respond and hope that this will be rectified soon.

END OF LETTER

Submitting a letter to the municipality for comment is not an obligation, but a courtesy.

We did not invite you to reply as the letters were primarily about Siza Water and not iLembe municipality.

But you are quite free to comment on your own initiative if you feel the need, as you have done now – Editor.