The Democratic Alliance (DA) in eThekwini calls on Mayor Cyril Xaba to urgently resolve the crisis surrounding the Municipality’s plumbing contractors, warning that the failure to secure a cost-effective and sustainable contracting model is putting both public money and essential water services at risk.
The Municipality must get value for money from its plumbing contracts while ensuring that sufficient capacity is available to attend to the city’s thousands of outstanding bursts and leaks. Instead, 1,869 plumbing contractors and their employees have been left without certainty about continued work, while the Municipality continues to struggle with a massive maintenance backlog and escalating water losses.
Approximately 300 affected contractors met with the Mayor and the Municipality three weeks ago to raise their concerns. The mayor committed his office to addressing the matter, yet three weeks later, no meaningful intervention or solution has been communicated to the affected contractors.
This is ultimately a failure of both financial management and service delivery, and residents deserve a municipality that can get both right.
At the local government elections, residents will have the opportunity to vote for a government that protects public money, supports local businesses, and delivers reliable services. When the DA takes over eThekwini, we will ensure that municipal contracts deliver value for money, are transparently managed and support the effective delivery of essential services.