Sol Plaatje municipality must urgently implement measures to ensure that emergency work in and around Kimberley continues, even after personnel have used up their scheduled weekly working hours.
Last week, a crisis arose whereby municipal personnel, who had completed their 40-hour work week by Thursday afternoon, could not fix a broken water pipe in Kenilworth. Due to the restrictions implemented to curb overtime, they could only initiate repairs on the following Monday.
The municipality subsequently called in a contractor to attend to the burst pipe, at an additional cost to the municipality. The contractor was on site but was unable to fix the leak, as the expertise of a municipal official was needed to assist with opening and closing of the correct water valves. In effect, the use of the contractor translated into fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
In addition to the money spent on the contractor, the municipality incurred significant expenses due to water losses experienced between Thursday and Monday, when staff were finally able to repair the leak.
The further unavailability of a driver, also only enabled Sol Plaatje to supply water to the community from the Sunday, by which time the Democratic Alliance (DA) had also managed to arrange a truck for water provision.
While it is understandable that Sol Plaatje needs to limit overtime expenses, the situation is risky and unsustainable. Kimberley’s water and sewage infrastructure are prone to crises. With summer coming, the threat of water shutdowns is a growing reality and Sol Plaatje needs a plan to ensure that all such emergencies are dealt with sooner, rather than later.
The DA has reported our concerns to the municipal manager. Overtime must be kept in check with proper management but it also cannot be scrapped completely, at the cost of services and at an additional cost to taxpayers.