Durban — The eThekwini Municipality’s electricity department is on the brink of collapse.
That was according to Human Settlements and Infrastructure DA eThekwini deputy caucus whip Ernest Smith.
In a statement, Smith said that the DA called on the eThekwini Electricity Department to urgently review its operational capacity in order to deal with increasing electricity outages across eThekwini.
“Over the festive season, a number of employees within the department were given leave without contingency plans put in place,” Smith said.
“There appears to be a complete dereliction of duty from officials leaving ward councillors to bear the brunt of community outrage.
“According to reports, the electricity department dispatched technicians from outside the municipality to handle outages within the metro. Moreover, the call centre set up to handle complaints remains inoperable,” Smith continued.
He said that efforts by both councillors and residents to obtain answers have garnered little fruit since no comment on the cause and response to the December outages has been provided.
“It’s time the head of electricity, Maxwell Mthembu, is held accountable for this situation,” Smith said.
“The result of this poor planning has caused misery for residents, which has seen food spoilt and appliances break due to surges.
“We cannot continue to allow officials and contractors with insufficient experience and expertise working for the municipality at the expense of residents.”
“Residents of eThekwini Municipality are entitled to better.”
Smith added that the DA in eThekwini would continue to drive the issue of critical infrastructure maintenance and upgrades throughout the municipality while also delivering solutions that have proven effective in other municipalities where the DA governs.
In July, the municipality said to ensure a seamless customer experience and improved service delivery, a decision was made to integrate the municipality’s three call centres.
Then, eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda led members of the executive committee on an oversight visit to the municipal call centres to assess their functionality.
The municipality presently has three call centres for water, electricity and revenue services.
Kaunda said the backlog at the call centres was a major challenge for residents, and following a study to determine the effectiveness and functioning of these call centres, a decision to integrate them was taken.
He said he was confident that in the next three months, the integration process would be completed.
“We are working to get the new system up and running with the aim of achieving improved customer satisfaction. We have also tasked senior management to iron out all labour-related matters, so it doesn’t hinder the integration process or improved customer satisfaction,” Kaunda said.
However, in September, residents were left frustrated, annoyed and dismissive after the municipality announced that its electricity contact centre was unable to receive calls due to a technical fault.
Daily News