Hillary residents confront eThekwini Municipality over service failures

Frustration and despair echoed through a church in Hillary, south of Durban, last week as residents from Mount Vernon and Memorial Park engaged directly with representatives from the eThekwini Municipality.

The meeting was called following a severe four-day power outage that left households scrambling for answers amid discontent over chronic electricity and water supply issues.

Memorial Park resident Jasper Cecil expressed the community’s primary concerns: faulty apps that incorrectly mark fault reports as closed, inaccurate communication from official channels, and contractor incompetence, which leads to misdiagnoses and residents having to direct technicians.

Cecil highlighted that the app and WhatsApp service repeatedly state “fault is closed” or “file is linked to another fault”, even when power has not been restored. The web app links provided for more information are often faulty.

The only communication channel seems to be through the ward councillor, Samantha Windvogel, who residents believe receives incorrect information from the department.

Cecil recalled the recent four-day outage where faultmen failed to restore power.

“One resident had to direct a technician to the fault location on a pole, and another technician refused to inspect the pole, misdiagnosing the problem from a street-level inspection.”

After three days, fed-up residents approached the superintendent, who claimed he had no prior knowledge of the issue and sent his team from the depot.

Cecil described how, five minutes after the technicians ascended the pole, the issue was resolved.

Lamenting the consequences, he stated: “Appliances were faulty, gate and garage motors weren’t working, and many of us had to throw away thousands of rand worth of food because fridges and freezers went off.”

Councillor Windvogel criticised the call centre for incorrectly linking the Memorial Park fault to a separate fault that left about 20 homes without power for four days.

A representative from the Electricity Department, Mnandi Buthelezi, confirmed that Memorial Park was indeed linked to another fault, stating it was a separate low-voltage issue, not related to the October 8 and 9 outages. He apologised to the residents.

Resident Wayne Erradu noted that the area suffers from inconsistent water and electricity delivery due to a lack of investment in infrastructure upgrades and maintenance.

However, Erradu said residents are proactive and log faults with eThekwini, warning them to lock substations due to vandalism, but they do not respond.

He cited the Angle Park substation as an example, where a fault was logged two days prior, alerting them to attempted break-ins.

“They didn’t act, and thieves stole equipment worth R1 million to replace for what will sell as scrap for R100,” said Erradu.

He questioned whether it would be more feasible to replace the ageing water pipes rather than subcontracting the work to fix leaks.

“When subcontractors are used, they do half a job, not to standards, and we have to log it again, and the cycle repeats itself,” he said.

Erradu highlighted that there is no oversight from eThekwini on their subcontractors.

“Often when a leak occurs at night, contractors will just shut off the water for the entire area and wait for a team to return in the morning instead of isolating a road,” he added.

A resident, who is a member of the Memorial Park Oversight Committee and requested anonymity, recalled a 24-hour power outage that occurred the week after a previous power failure.

He and his neighbour went to the fault site for an update. Workers told them they were waiting for a colleague from another team.

After further questions, the workers began speaking in isiZulu, and his neighbour told him to go home, offering to speak to them himself.

“He phoned me and said, ‘Don’t worry, it’s sorted. I spoke to the guys, I bought them some cold drinks and KFC,’ and an hour later the lights were on.”

This is not the first incident with contractors; he described other instances where workers were seen sitting, eating, or relaxing on their phones while “waiting for the control room to tell us what to do”.

Resident Kobus Meiring asked if someone checks whether maintenance staff have the right tools to carry out the work.

Buthelezi responded: “Our superintendents are responsible for that, not on site but at the depot level before they issue any work. They are supposed to do a tool check, whether it’s a contractor or in-house staff.”

Meiring detailed a specific incident on Emslie Road, where a contractor arrived to fix a cable completely unprepared, lacking basic tools like a pick.

A resident had to go door-to-door, soliciting picks and other necessary equipment for the work to be completed.

Buthelezi, who is a technician, stated that this is unacceptable and requested that residents report such behaviour to the councillor.

“Our teams are supposed to come on site fully equipped with everything they might need for that particular job, not even to borrow lighting,” he said.

During a presentation of a three-month report he compiled, Buthelezi revealed that the Hillary Distribution Substation (DSS), built in 1959, is severely compromised by vandalism and ageing infrastructure.

Damage to secondary wiring means a fault on any of the four outgoing circuits causes a complete power loss for the entire Hillary area.

Buthelezi said a long-term solution involves restoring protection or implementing a new system, and senior management is developing a plan to replace outdated switchgear.

He noted that the outages on October 8 and 9 were caused by an existing fault, which led to a double fault.

He requested seven days to repair seven out-of-commission cables, some of which were fixed on the day of the meeting, to serve as back-ups and reduce outage duration.

Several residents complained about continuous water leaks and rubble, and unfilled holes left unattended for extended periods.

Erradu stated that in the seven days prior to the meeting, they experienced about 12 leaks, resulting in an inconsistent water supply.

“Our problem is that the infrastructure is old. They repair a leak, and two metres down in the next two weeks, it will burst. It looks like a mole has come through all our roads,” he said.

Bronwynne Batstone said when she runs water from her tap, “green slime” comes out.

“My son has an immune system problem, and that is a big concern for me,” she said.

Batstone also mentioned that a team had come out to fix her water meter, but replaced it with a pipe.

“My concern is every time I use water, how much am I being charged? Will they triple bill me?” questioned Batstone.

She highlighted several longstanding issues:

• Two fire hydrants have been leaking for over five weeks, and
• A large hole dug seven months ago for a repair remains open, with old pipes still at the site.

“We urgently need the water department to go road by road and let’s work together to get this resolved,” appealed Batstone.

Meiring recalled that about two years ago, the Water Department dug a hole outside his driveway and replaced a part.

He was advised that another contractor would come and collect the rubble. “It’s a big mess there; we’ve reported it, and nothing gets done.”

Ndwazi Biyela from the Department of Water and Sanitation asked residents for reference numbers regarding backfill and spoil removal.

Biyela said the jobs would then be passed on to the Roads Department for re-tarring.

Regarding a request for new water pipes to be installed, Biyela mentioned that a few years ago, they had a programme to replace old asbestos pipes with blue plastic PVC pipes.

“Some roads were left out; however, I’m going to take this back as a request to do an overview again and get our seniors to commit to having this done again,” she said, emphasising that this would take time.

Erradu highlighted that the department’s current workflow for repairing leaks is ineffective.

The process, from initial repair to completion, is flawed, he said, leading to backfill being washed away and subsequent pipe re-breakage.

Biyela stated that there is a turnaround strategy, and everyone who works with communities will go out into the field.

“The superintendents need to do a 10% inspection of the jobs that are being done,” she said, adding that this system was implemented about three weeks ago.

City representatives collected residents’ contact information and fault reference numbers.

They also committed to providing feedback on all raised issues soon.

Have thoughts on this topic or other subjects you’d like us to explore? Want to share your experiences? Reach out to me at karen.singh@inl.co.za – I’d love to hear from you!