More than 80 eThekwini Municipality water tankers parked off at depots
More than 80 tankers owned by the eThekwini Municipality have been parked for months in the City’s depots due to numerous problems, including the failure to renew vehicle licences. Members of the Trading Services Portfolio Committee discovered that 88 water tankers belonging to the City are not operational in recent oversight visits. The tankers are not being used as a result of mechanical issues and a shortage of drivers, and some have not been functional since February this year because their licences have not been renewed.
The City recently announced an investment of R784.8 million in its water and sanitation fleet. The City’s Water and Sanitation Unit will procure additional water tankers, backfill trucks, TLBs, LDVs, and excavators to enhance its fleet, following approval by the council. This investment aims to address ageing infrastructure, rising water demand, and service disruptions, particularly in flood-affected and informal areas. During their oversight visits to several water depots, committee members expressed concern over the current state of the fleet.
“In the last council meeting, we were informed that the City plans to buy more water tankers; it intends to purchase about 100 new water tankers. The City currently has 166 water tankers from private service providers, and its intention is to reduce this number to only 66 external water tankers.
“However, during our visit, we learned that 88 water tankers that belong to the City are not working. There is a serious shortage of drivers, so buying new tankers when the City has no drivers and its water tankers are parked because their road licences have not been renewed does not make sense,” said a committee member.
“We cannot be spending millions of rand to acquire new water tankers when the current ones aren’t being utilised,” the committee member added. Additionally, the committee learned that there is a shortage of water sources to fill up the tankers. Filling one tanker takes about 20 minutes, meaning it takes almost an hour to fill up two water tankers. This results in communities having to wait a long time just to receive the tankers.
“What was another anomaly is that we found that the externally hired water tankers fill up at different water sources; they are allocated three of these sources while the municipal tankers have only two. In another depot, we found that there was only one source,” said the committee member.
Another concerning matter was that the committee found numerous bottles of alcohol—beer, wine, and ciders—scattered throughout the department, raising concerns that the drivers of the tankers may be drinking on duty. DA councillor Ernest Smith stated water tankers with expired licence discs and others that need repairs were a major concern, as services were not being rendered to the communities in desperate need of water.
“What is of great concern is the amount of money the City is going to use for the procurement of more water tankers, yet the systems (as well as budgets) in place aren’t streamlined enough to get these vehicles through the necessary processes, such as roadworthiness and general vehicle maintenance in order to get them on the road.”
ActionSA councillor Sanelisiwe Zuma said it was distressing to find that the City had vehicles that were parked off for minor issues while it wanted to spend money buying more tankers instead of fixing the ones it had.
EThekwini Municipality’s spokesperson Gugu Sisilana stated that the City was addressing the issue of licensing and repairs.
“The budget for vehicle licensing and vehicle repairs is exhausted. A report on the re-prioritisation of funds has been compiled.” Speaking on the issue of drivers, she said, “The City has procured 153 additional tankers in the last two years. Furthermore, the city manager has recently approved fixed-term posts for 119 additional water tanker drivers.”
The spokesperson also addressed the allegations of liquor bottles found in depots, saying there have not been any reported incidents of drivers drinking at the depot or being under the influence of alcohol while on duty.