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The DA in Msunduzi has written to the municipality’s Ministerial Representative, Mr Martin Sithole as well as the City Manager, Mr Lulamile Mapholoba to urgently request a clear plan of action with timeframes to address the collapse of this municipality.

This as communities in Northdale continue to deal with prolonged water outages, putting lives and livelihoods in the line.

The increased service delivery deterioration throughout the City and the lack of general capacity to deal timeously with these challenges is of grave concern.

We have requested that the plan of action prioritizes the following:

1. The lack of Capacity within the Water & Sanitation Department in terms of plumbers, tools of Trade and overtime. This Department is almost dysfunctional without proper management.

2. Sewerage leaks and burst pipes take up to a week at times, and some not attended to at all, due to the lack of general capacity, both tools of trade and manpower.

3. Roads and properties are being damaged due to these unresolved water and sanitation issues throughout the City.

4. Electricity Infrastructure has been and still is exposed to vandalism and natural corrosion due to our lack of ability to safeguard and maintain the infrastructure. This has been raised on a regular basis with Senior Management.

5. The lack of clear communication between the Call Centre and the Technical Departments are still leaving a massive gap in terms of feedback to our Communities when these service delivery interruptions arise, therefore leaving Councillors scrambling to provide feedback to their respective residents, when the job of the Municipal Call Centre fails.

This cannot be the order of the day, we need an urgent and feasible plan of action.

Issued by Councillor Ross Strachan - DA Msunduzi Caucus Leader