Following pressure from the DA, a full forensic report regarding water pumps at the Ezakheni waterworks in uThukela District will finally be tabled before the Council, this Thursday, 20 March 2025.
Following the flooding of the Ezakheni waterworks during the April 2022 floods, the uThukela District ordered a third party to inspect six (6) industrial pumps at the waterworks. The third party wrote off the pumps in which they were then removed.
This facility was commissioned in 2018 by uMngeni- uThukela Water at a staggering cost of R49 million.
uMngeni- uThukela Water used APE Pumps, a South African manufacturer. They raised flags over the removal of these pumps citing that they had monitored them remotely via telemetry and confirmed that the pumps incurred no damage during the April 2022 floods.
They were not afforded the opportunity to inspect these pumps as provided for in the warrantee agreement. These pumps that had been installed in 2019, had only been in service for just over three (3) years despite a projected 30-year lifespan as confirmed by APE pumps.
Adding insult to injury, uThukela District continues to bear the financial burden of this loss, with the facility’s cost contributing to an unpaid debt of R200 million owed to uMngeni-uThukela Water—a debt that grows as service delivery collapses.
The theft triggered years of water shedding, forcing over 70 000 residents to endure dry taps and rely on expensive water trucks. This disruption severely damaged the articulation system in Umnambithi/Ladysmith, where the constant emptying and refilling of pipelines caused pressure shocks, leading to numerous ongoing pipe bursts.
In February 2023, the DA conducted an exposé revealing the deliberate destruction of these pumps. This was met with resistance, but our resolve has only strengthened.
Following the exposé, the DA immediately demanded a thorough investigation into the incident. On 29 May 2023, the uThukela Council tabled its own forensic report, which unequivocally highlighted rampant corruption and evidence of municipal capture involving hundreds of millions of rands. Shockingly, the Council failed to adopt the report’s findings and recommendations, leaving the DA with no choice but to exhaust all internal avenues.
Undeterred, we escalated the matter to the KwaZulu-Natal Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) MEC in August of 2023, presenting prima facie evidence sufficient to justify a Section 106 Forensic Investigation.
Despite the investigative team being deployed in December 2023, progress stalled until the DA applied sustained pressure through our KZN Government Parliamentary Unit (GPU), ensuring the report’s completion.
The DA is confident that the weight of the evidence—detailing the extent of corruption, the identities of those involved, and the systemic failures that enabled this scandal—will compel the majority of councilors to adopt the recommendations in their entirety.