Two suburbs within the eThekwini Municipality have been found to have connected to the water supply illegally, which is one of the issues the city is dealing with, including beefing up security around infrastructure. 

The areas identified by the municipality as “off the system” were Trenance Park 3 and Luganda in Umlazi. 

The municipality was concerned that the Trenance Park 3 system remains a major problem due to the increase in illegal connections and rapid development in the area.

The city plans to redesign infrastructure to meet current needs, considering changes in communities and infrastructure performance. 

Richard Mngoma, the deputy head of Operations at the eThekwini Water and Sanitation Unit, presented the state of water supply report city-wide at the Executive Committee meeting on Tuesday. 

Mngoma said the supply to the inner-west, outer-west, central, south, and north regions has stabilised, but the water demand exceeded the supply in some areas.

Mngoma said the water supply in Umlazi is still intermittent since there is still water rationing, but the city intends to stop water rationing from June 23, 2025, and monitor if the system is able to stabilise. The night shuts will still be in place for the Umlazi 2 zone and downstream, he said.

He stated that, in terms of the Infrastructure Leakage Index (ILI), the city was still ranked low and that emergency interventions need to be implemented to address severe leaks and bursts.

The city was also in the process of issuing performance-based contracts to get value for money, reduce non-revenue water, and improve the water supply. 

Councillor Zandile Myeni, deputy mayor ​and chairperson of the Security and Emergency Services Committee, called for more focus on the money spent on private security companies and the value for money the city is getting when municipal infrastructure continues to be vandalised.

Myeni is also concerned that the city is not receiving proper reports on vandalism and called for the SAPS and Durban metro police to be involved in protecting water and electricity infrastructure. 

Mdu Nkosi, IFP Exco member, said the metro police were previously funded for providing additional security and called for a probe into the matter. 

According to eThekwini Mayor Cyril Xaba, hiring private security was a huge cost to the city, and he called for councillors to motivate communities to assist in protecting municipal infrastructure.

“We are making progress, we won’t lift our foot off the pedal and will continue to press on until we get satisfactory levels,” Xaba said. 

zainul.dawood@inl.co.za

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