Frustration over fibre rollout
Selvan Chetty, chairman of the Umtentweni Community Police Forum, said at last month's meeting that crime had increased dramatically since contractors began working in the area.
There have been mixed reactions to the fibre installation rollouts on the South Coast, which started in January and had been expected to be complete by June, until Ray Nkonyeni Municipality stepped in and provisionally suspended operations (see story on page 3).
Selvan Chetty, chairman of the Umtentweni Community Police Forum, said at last month’s meeting that crime had increased dramatically since contractors began working in the area.
“Workers are supposed to wear ID badges and should not be leaning on walls of residential homes, for example. They are allowed to take photos of where they have worked. Patrollers found some of the workers sleeping at the Tweni Town Hall,” said Mr Chetty.
There were other complaints – driveways being dug up and not repaired properly, damage to water pipes and electrical cables, lack of ablutions for workers, litter, and a lack of proper worker supervision.
He said that while permission to work was granted from Ray Nkonyeni Municipality on a technical services level, not all the correct processes were followed.
The Herald spoke to Avinash Hiralal from Telelanga, one of the companies involved in the installations, to get a better understand of what was involved in the installations.
Mr Hiralal said Telelanga employs mostly local people and wherever possible they contract local small, medium and micro enterprises (SMME) contractors in an attempt to incubate and empower them for future civil construction projects that may not necessarily entail the deployment of optical fibre networks.
If a road or has not been re-instated properly, who can residents call?
Mr Hiralal said letters are supplied to each resident’s home at the start of the project, these contain the contact details and names of the project managers onsite.
“Re-instatements are quality checked before the end of the project to ensure everything is as good as before or better and the municipal representatives are required to inspect the works after the fact to close out the permits they issued.”
He could unfortunately not confirm or deny the crime statistics, especially in light of Covid-19, which he suggested had altered the crime patterns countrywide.
He explained that despite the influx of labourers in the suburbs, that do not sleep in the suburbs and leave site between 4pm and 6pm, to return to their places of residence.
“Without having had sight of the statistics and, more specifically, the actual recorded times of the crime incidents, it is difficult for us to comment further. We are, however, eager to work with the CPF in trying to assist where we can in reducing the surge of crime in these areas.”
In Ferndale Road in Palmview, Mary Ramdharie has no access to her driveway and gate.
Mrs Ramdharie explained that she was not upset about the water disruption, all she wanted was her driveway back.
“I know that they are working hard and didn’t do it on purpose. We need to be good to them as well,” she said.
Amrith Manilal, candidate councilor for the Palmview area, aired his frustration surrounding the constant disruption caused by the digging.
Mr Manilal suggested that contractors practice extra caution while digging so that they are more aware of possible surrounding pipes and cables.
Another resident explained that being impolite and blaming the contractors will not help the situation.
“There will be plenty more burst pipes to come. We need to remember that this is not an easy job, especially standing out in the sun the entire day. In the long run, the fibre installation will benefit all of us. The other issue is that the pipes underground do not run straight through, they are structured in a snake-like pattern which makes it harder for the contractors,” he said.
The contracted company’s site supervisor explained that the process of digging and locating the service is more complicated than it seems.
“The wayleaves that the municipality provides are not accurate. Also, when we are digging, the size of the pipes are different to the ones stated on the wayleave,” he explained.
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