‘Ugu does not care about community’
Marburg resident Dinesh Pillay said when it comes to Ugu, his frustrations have no limits.
While most taps continue to run dry in most residential areas on the South Coast, Ugu District Municipality said the extent of damage to water infrastructure has caused major delays in the restoration of supply in areas under Umdoni and Ray Nkonyeni local municipalities.
However, Marburg resident Dinesh Pillay said when it comes to Ugu, his frustrations have no limits. He said the municipality will use the flood as an excuse.
“From Freedom Day, April 27 we had no water, it was only restored on May 3. My frustration is that when I called Ugu I couldn’t get hold of them so I drove to the municipality. When I got there, I spoke to a woman at reception and when she tried to call people at the call centre, she couldn’t get hold of them. For me, that was the height of my frustration because if people in the building cannot get hold of others in the same building, who can get hold of them?” asked Pillay.
He added that Ugu Municipality does not care about the community.
In a recent statement, Ugu municipal spokesperson, France Zama said the progress made to date in the restoration of water supply to some areas has been stalled due to some emerging frailties in their supply network.
“As much as most areas in Port Shepstone and surrounding areas have been restored, the northern area has been stalled due to a major pipeline leak discovered between Umtentweni and Sea Park. Repairs are currently underway together with repairs to the 300mm pipeline leak below the Umzimkulu low-level bridge after which Umtentweni to Hibberdene’s supply will be restored,” said Zama.
He also added that progress has been made to the restoration of water supply to areas under Umdoni local municipality where supply was severely affected by the destruction caused to the South Coast Main bulk line where repairs have been completed. Teams are currently monitoring and attending to areas where recovery has been delayed due to systems frailties that arose after opening the supply.
The volume of calls to the call centre has rapidly increased and call centre agents shall endeavour to respond to all calls.
“We appeal for calm and patience during this period while the rebuilding process is underway. The municipality is aware of the areas where restoration of water supply has not been fulfilled and in such areas while repairs are in progress, water relief is being provided through tankers until our supply systems have fully recovered,” said Zama.
