Durban — EThekwini’s Municipal Public Account Committee (MPAC) has demanded answers from mayor Mxolisi Kaunda on why the broken sewage pipe near Mega City mall in Umlazi, south of Durban, has not been fixed despite his visit to the area a few weeks back.
Contractors have blamed the bad weather for the delay.
MPAC chairperson Thami Xuma undertook an oversight visit on Monday after he was informed that sewerage was flowing out of the pipe since early December. The wastewater and sewerage flows into the Umlazi River and the canal heading to Cuttings Beach in Merebank.
Xuma said he was shocked to find out that despite the matter being raised by the opposition parties and the media, the city had not done anything. He would demand an explanation from Kaunda since he had visited the area, as well as Human Settlement and Infrastructure committee chairperson and ANC councillor Thembo Ntuli.
"There is something wrong in the city for a pipe that is left unrepaired for months. My committee would seek answers from the relevant people. Surely someone has not done his or her work and there must be consequences," said Xuma.
Spokesperson for the mayor, Mluleki Mtungwa, said the construction team would have finished repairs but were disturbed by bad weather which had forced the workers to stop. Mtungwa said for the workers to stop the leak they would have to join the broken pieces of the main pipe first.
The unbearable stench emanating from the pipe had been affecting shoppers at Umlazi’s Mega City mall, as well as residents of the Glebelands and Tehuis hostels.
The pipeline, which runs along Griffiths Mxenge Highway (the M30), carries sewage from the township via the mall to the southern wastewater purification plant in Isipingo.
WhatsApp your views on this story at 071 485 7995
Daily News