The eThekwini Municipality spent a whopping R138 million on 55 water tankers to service the communities that need help. Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda unveiled the tankers and tractors last week, saying they would help the municipality with service delivery to its residents.
He said they had bought the 13 000-litre water tankers to ensure that residents received water during supply interruptions.
Mr Kaunda said he had made a commitment to the community of eThekwini that the city was going to build its internal capacity as the municipality had for some time been outsourcing 55 water tankers from private service providers.
“We needed to buy our own machinery that will reach any terrain within the city. There have been complaints that some of our water tankers are unable to reach out to difficult terrains in the city,” said Mr Kaunda.
“Today we have 21 water tankers that are licensed by the Department of Transport – the remainder of the 55 water tankers will be licensed in the coming days.”
The mayor added that there were residents who had raised concerns with the Department of Parks and Recreation (PRC) about overgrown verges and unmaintained sports fields. He said they had also bought 30 tractors and were still procuring brush cutters and other machinery that is required by the PRC so they can be more responsive to the residents’ requests.
“At budget hearing meetings people say they pay for rates but are not seeing maintenance of streets, sports fields, verges and so on. This purchase is a response to what the residents have been asking for. There must be value for money – residents pay for services, and they must get value for money,” said Mr Kaunda.
He said last year the city delivered Durban Solid Waste (DSW) machinery which has helped them clean the city. There is always room for improvement, he said, but in comparison to what the city used to look like and what it looks like now – there is a big difference. People deserve to live in a clean city, with water delivered to them on time in vehicles that are clean, said Mr Kaunda. While the municipality is facing challenges with disasters and catastrophic incidents, they are trying to improve the city, he said. The aim, he added, was to ensure business continuity while they attend to floods and other incidents that they are faced with.
“We want to continue to bolster our capacity by spending our financial resources wisely on items that benefit residents. As we increase our capacity and continue to invest in tools for employees to work, we will see improved quality of services where there have been gaps,” said Mr Kaunda.