The uMzinyathi District Municipality has suspended its water tanker hiring contracts.
Image: Independent Newspapers Archives
The uMzinyathi District Municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal has suspended its water tanker contracts due to financial challenges and says it will focus on repairing municipal tankers and investing in permanent water infrastructure.
The Dundee municipality had initially purchased 28 water tankers but it currently has 26 as two were destroyed in a fire. The purchase aimed to reduce costs associated with hiring private water tankers but these costs had continued to grow.
Mayor Petros Ngubane said the municipal manager and councillors had agreed that the tanker hiring programme was financially unsustainable.
“The municipality is in a dire financial situation, and we are looking at every possible way to save money. It has become clear that the continuous hiring of water tankers is not cost-effective,” said Ngubane.
The municipality has now shifted its focus to repairing the remaining 26 tankers to ensure they are all operational.
The mayor added that an internal investigation had raised concerns about possible deliberate sabotage of municipal tankers to justify ongoing private contracts.
“The findings suggest that there may be individuals intentionally damaging municipal water tankers to create a demand for hired ones,” Ngubane revealed.
He urged residents to report water-related corruption including the selling of water by calling the municipality at 034 219 1500.
“Anyone with evidence should submit it to the municipality so that we can take action.”
The mayor added that municipality will also be investing in permanent water infrastructure. Plans include upgrading and repairing small and large-scale water supply systems to ensure a stable water supply for all wards in uMzinyathi.
“The money currently spent on hiring water tankers will now be directed toward improving our water infrastructure so that communities receive water in a sustainable and cost-effective manner,” Ngubane concluded.
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