A syndicate is targeting water sanitation plants of the Buffalo City metropolitan municipality through vandalism and theft.
This was revealed on Monday during parliament and the Eastern Cape provincial legislature’s engagement meeting with underperforming municipalities in the province.
The meeting is a joint oversight delegation comprising parliament’s portfolio committees on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and the Standing Committee on the Auditor-General, where they engage with the provincial legislature and with municipalities that have poor audit outcomes and governance challenges.
The meetings are scheduled to take place from Monday to Friday at the Estuary Hotel and Spa Conference Centre in Port Edward, Eastern Cape.
Vandalism biggest challenge
Buffalo City metro’s chief operations officer and acting chief financial officer Vincent Pillay said vandalism of municipal infrastructure remains a major challenge that the city faces.
Pillay said the theft and vandalism of water sanitation plants and/or sewer plants is being orchestrated by a syndicate.
He said there is also vandalism and theft of electricity copper cables.
Buffalo City metro mayor Princess Faku said the city is currently experiencing water supply challenges.
Billions need to fix waste water plants
Faku said the city needs around R8-billion to fix all of its waste water treatment plants.
She said the Zwelitsha waste water treatment project is currently in its specifications process and the tender advertisement will be issued come the end of October.
Faku added that the city has 10 water supply systems and only two of them are currently up and running.
She said in the main, the city gets its water supply from the Amathole water board to boost the two water supply systems which are functioning.
Faku said the city would receive its water from its two water supply systems and the rest of the water supply from the Amathole water board.
City can’t meet water demand
She conceded that the city is at times unable to supply water and meet the water demand when there is no water supply coming from Amathole water board.
The Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitan municipality was the first Eastern Cape municipality to account to parliament in the oversight meeting on Monday.
Buffalo City metro came after Nelson Mandela Bay metro to account to parliament.
A total of 19 municipalities will be accounting before the joint oversight delegation on several persistent challenges, including disclaimers and poor financial statements, environmental degradation related to the neglect of landfill sites and wastewater treatment works that are causing pollution and affecting nearby communities, among others.
The municipalities will also account on the weak oversight and accountability due to limited consequence management for irregular, wasteful and unauthorised expenditure.
Municipalities, such as Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality, will also have to account for their failure to comply with and act on findings and recommendations, including those by the Public Protector.
The oversight visit will conclude on Friday in Mthatha, where members of parliament are expected to meet traditional leaders and do site visits to disaster-affected areas.
