Frustrated eThekwini contractors protest over four months of unpaid wages, gather at City's office in Durban CBD

Contractors in the eThekwini Municipality have alleged that they have not been paid for their services for the past four months.

The contractors, primarily plumbers, protested outside the municipality's Florence Mkhize building in the Durban CBD on Monday, claiming months of non-payment by the municipality.

In a video posted online, one of the contractors dealing with water and sanitation shouted, “The plumbers here have not been paid for four months”, in reference the protesting plumbers.

DA councillor Yogis Govender, speaking about the challenges in water services, stated that EThekwini Water and Sanitation’s (EWS) annual budgetary failures affecting contractors have escalated from gross incompetence to a predictable, systemic betrayal of public trust.

“Year after year, the department follows the same catastrophic script of squandering its allocation, slashing its workforce in half, and then feigning surprise when the city’s infrastructure disintegrates,” he remarked.

An oversight visit by DA councillors revealed that water depots across the city are operating at less than 50% capacity.

At the same time, plumbers and water tanker operators have allegedly not been paid since October last year. This crisis, which led contractors to briefly down tools last week due to non-payment, is the inevitable result of a department that functions as a black hole for taxpayer funds.

The reality on the ground is that EWS is unable to effectively and speedily deal with leaks and bursts, and the backlog is currently quite substantial. Govender stated, “Residents are being forced into a third-world existence, enduring weeks of unattended pipe bursts and dry taps while non-revenue water levels skyrocket due to sheer administrative paralysis.”

“EWS treats the City’s budget as a suggestion and its residents’ hardships as an inconvenience. Ratepayers are expected to fund a cycle of waste, mismanagement, and official apathy,” said Govender.

The chairperson of the City's trading services committee Mdu Nkosi said he was aware of a previous issue regarding the non-payment of plumbers but he said he believed that the matter had been resolved.

* This story has been updated with the chairperson's comment.

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