Durban – eThekwini Municipality announced on its Facebook page on Sunday that water and sanitation services have been disrupted due to an ongoing labour dispute.
The city said the municipality is dealing with the issue and hopes to have it resolved as soon as possible.
“The eThekwini Municipality would like to advise the public that our water and sanitation services are disrupted because of an ongoing labour issue. This could delay water and sanitation repairs,” said the city.
In a water outage update on Sunday following concerns raised by residents, Sakhile Mngadi, the eThekwini ward 33 councillor for Glenwood, Umbilo and Bulwer, said there is currently a water outage that is widespread in the city.
Mngadi said there are also reports of a strike at the water unit.
“This has made getting responses from officials a nightmare. A very large area is affected,” he said.
He has requested the city to provide a turnaround time for the issue to be resolved, he said.
“To this end please note that there are attempts at the highest level to have this resolved. I am also working to get tankers in the area but this isn’t possible due to the strike but I am trying,” said Mngadi.
Samantha Windvogel, ward 65 councillor for part of Seaview, Hillary, Burlington Greenfields, Shallcross Ext 2, Queensmead Industrial, Malvern, Khwastan and Umhlatuzana, told residents that she had requested water tankers. She posted the response received from the city.
“We have large areas without water and unfortunately we will be giving priority to hospitals and open clinics. You may see one tanker in your area but unfortunately that was dispatched prior to the vastness of the areas that are now affected,” said the response.
Gavin Hegter, Ward 64 councillor for Montclair, Woodlands, Woodhaven, Yellowwood Park, Rossburgh and a portion of Seaview, said: “A number of areas are experiencing water outages. Unfortunately the information received is that no water and sanitation operational staff are working due to issues with overtime payment. At this stage it is unlikely that these faults will be attended to before Monday.”