Note to Editors: Please find attached soundbites in English and Afrikaans by Cllr Johannes le Grange.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) in the City of Matlosana Local Municipality is concerned about a recent report by the Infrastructure Portfolio Committee indicating an extremely high water complaint number for June 2022.
According to the report, there were 1756 water complaints registered for the month of June. This is a new record for Matlosana.
Worse, due to a lack of operational vehicles in the Department of Water, only 54% of reported cases were attended to. It’s unacceptable that only 9 of the 40 vehicles are operational.
The municipality made ridiculous excuses like worn-out tyres, punctures, faulty mileage meters, and speedometers for the lack of operational vehicles to attend to water leaks and other service delivery needs to tax-paying residents.
Instead of presenting a comprehensive water leak strategy two weeks ago, Mayor James Tsolela, paraded and boasted about an additional ten brand new trucks to handle service delivery matters. Unfortunately, due to licensing issues, these trucks are currently inoperable. Meanwhile, the estimated water losses amount to R240 million in one year. Money Matlosana can ill afford to lose.
A water leak in De Waal Street in La Hoff, for example, has been unattended to for months. See image here.
DA Councillors, together with the assistance of businesses and residents, frequently buy parts out of their own pockets to repair leaks, because Matlosana is unable to maintain adequate spare part stock levels
Matlosana must address the water loss issues and present to Council a strategic and comprehensive plan for dealing with the water leak crisis, which must include a commitment to repair water leaks within 24 hours, as well as a budgeted plan to upgrade and replace ageing water reticulation infrastructure.
The DA will write to Mayor Tsolela and the Municipal Manager, Lesego Seametso, demanding that they present such a plan to Council. In addition, we will call for a full skills audit within the water department, as well as an investigation into why directors and supply chain management officials are unable to ensure that the municipality is capacitated to attend to water leak repairs and infrastructure maintenance.
Only a DA government will reduce water losses by fixing leaks and investing in water reticulation and sewerage infrastructure maintenance and upgrades.