Durban — Member of Parliament Visvin Reddy advised the eThekwini Municipality to bring in retired engineers and experts to assist in fixing the water challenges.

Reddy said these professionals have the experience and expertise to address the challenges the City faces, adding it is time the city draws on their knowledge.Reddy, who resides in Durban, is a former eThekwini councillor, the leader of the African Democratic Change in eThekwini and a political stalwart. Reddy is an Umkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) member in parliament.

Reddy said management must take the blame for failing to act against non-revenue water while it was still at 17% during his time. Reddy said management was supposed to have done more to prevent the water losses when it reached 40% calling the curtailment a governance failure.

“The reduction is a response to the city’s uncontrolled water losses and a staggering 56% of non-revenue water—a clear sign of mismanagement. It is a travesty of justice and a catastrophe created by the ANC’s long-standing failure to manage the city’s infrastructure. The current administration's negligence has erased years of progress," said Reddy.

He said under his leadership 17 years ago, non-revenue water was reduced to 17%, which is a stark contrast to the current 56% which he calls a directed result of the City’s inability to prioritise effective water management

He further pointed out that alarm bells were ringing when non-revenue water exceeded 40%, far surpassing the internationally accepted standard of around 15%." He said that the residents of eThekwini are unfairly paying for water lost through ageing infrastructure, faulty meters, and water tankering inefficiencies.

"It is unacceptable that the citizens are being punished for the poor management and gross negligence of city officials and politicians," Reddy said.

Reddy emphasised that water rationing is not a sustainable solution to the crisis and only serves to paper over the cracks rather than addressing the core issue. He likened the decision to keeping the holes in the bucket while reducing the amount of water flowing into it, adding that instead, the city should be fixing those holes.

Reddy said in a recent meeting with mayor Cyril Xaba he made concrete proposals on behalf of the MK Party to avert water restrictions. He suggested that city officials be given 14 days to identify and fix key leaks in the system, which may potentially lead to at least a 10% reduction in water losses. According to Reddy, this alone would eliminate the need for water rationing and align with the Department of Water and Sanitation actual intention which is reducing water losses rather than rationing supply.

Mayor is expected to outline comprehensive measures on how the City plans to ensure the residents and business would not adversely be affected by the curtailed water supply. There is a concern that curtailment would affect the tourism economy of the City which is expected to peak during this time of the year.

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Visvin Reddy calls for retired engineers to tackle eThekwini’s water crisis