Water, or the lack of it, was on the agenda when Umzinyathi officials and councillors met with community organisations following last month’s protest march on the Princess Magogo building.
A memorandum presented to Speaker Kunene listed a host of complaints demanding urgent action regarding water and sanitation issues, with particular focus on the contamination of water and the lack of proper service delivery, sewer leaks, alleged corruption and the string of poor audit reports given to the district municipality.

Recent water sampling tests co-ordinated by the Endumeni Civic Organisation revealed that tap water in Endumeni is contaminated with bacteria.
Speaker TN Kunene, Administrator Z Sikhosana and Municipal Manager NT Mkhwanazi responded by presenting a 28-page document.
The largely defensive response to the host of complaints in the memorandum admits to the ‘encountered challenges’ of delivering water and blames the state of affairs on ‘issues’ at the Tayside pump station.
A refurbished pump will be commissioned at the end of May.

Eight filters at the Biggarsberg Water Treatment Plant had to be serviced to boost capacity and improve quality. Kunene said that four of the filters have been upgraded and the remaining four should be completed by the end of March.
“R24 million is to be spent on upgrading maintenance infrastructure that should alleviate (a number) of water and sanitation issues.” He warned that with the onset of winter, demand could again outstrip supply and should ‘water-shedding be implemented, this will be communicated’.

Kunene said a business plan is to be submitted to the Department of Water to source water from the Ingagane Water Treatment Works to boost Endumeni’s capacity. He blamed limited funding on delays.

Responding to complaints of constant sewer leaks and effluent spewing into local rivers, it was said that the ‘technical team does respond to all complaints’.

A spillage into the Steenkoolspruit was blamed on a ‘foreign object’ blocking a pipe, which has been resolved.
Asked about the ‘random implementation of water-shedding’, it was said that the times are updated on the municipality’s social media platforms, but would now also be done via SMS, flyers and loud-hailing.

Allegations that staff are either not skilled or appointed because of nepotism, Kunene said a recent skills audit showed that some employees were overqualified and that others scored well above the required level.
He added that, where necessary, training was done, although the audit did reveal the need to attract staff from other races other than black. Allegations of nepotism are widespread, with reports that two sons of the former mayor are employed ‘but do nothing’, while relatives of other staff are also ‘paid for doing nothing’.

Marchers protest outside Princess Magogo building

Kunene stressed that the recruitment policy follows all legislation and budgetary requirements, although it should be noted that nothing in law precludes the hiring of relatives of councillors (and officials), as long as it is done transparently and in terms of the law.
However, he called on the community to report any instances of evidence where this may have been breached. While the auditor-general has given the municipality a string of poor audit reports, Kunene said that (after investigations) two employees were dismissed on charges of irregular and fruitless expenditure. However, he was confident that the Audit Action Plan will help resolve current issues. The meeting ended with a call for immediate action to address these critical concerns and ensure the provision of clean, safe water to all communities in Endumeni.

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