The Democratic Alliance in eThekwini is deeply concerned about the city’s handling of the fibre installations. Despite repeatedly trying to resolve these issues with city management, it was clear that they were unwilling or unable to stop the chaos that was happening in Durban.
To this end, the DA had submitted questions to Council to ascertain the full extent of what was happening. The answers revealed that:
- The city has resumed granting wayleave application to fibre network operators, despite there being no regulatory by-laws in place;
- No fibre network operator has been charged any amount for damages done to the municipal infrastructure of property as “no such mechanism exists”;
- The Roads and Storm water Department does not have sufficient internal resources to monitor the fibre installations, and is “considering” expanding their staff;
- There is no limit to how many times one area can be dug up by different contractors, meaning all twenty-three registered operators can technically install fibre cables on top of one another.
The questions reveal that this problem has been ongoing for the past two years but do not explain why no steps have been taken by the municipality to develop better mechanisms for handling problems that arise.
In addition to the damage to water, electricity, storm water and roads infrastructure, it is clear that most areas are not returned to their original state. This is despite the wayleave agreements demanding it, including natural elements like grass.
The DA will continue to follow this up and demand that fibre contractors properly conduct themselves. This includes not damaging infrastructure and compensating the city where it does occur. A by-law must urgently be developed to this end.
In addition, the DA has requested that our Shadow Minister for Communications, Telecommunications and the Postal Service, Zakhele Mbhele MP, take this matter up with the national department in an attempt to fill gaps in existing laws.