Knysna hit with water and refuse removal crisis

Knysna Municipality mayor Aubrey Tsengwa has assured residents that services will soon be restored amid a water and refuse removal crisis in the region. 

While the municipality said it was investigating what has caused the issue, residents said corruption and mismanagement has led to the problem.

Tsengwa said the municipality was currently evaluating a number of options to ensure that the issue is not repeated in the future.

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LOAD SHEDDING AND VANDALISM AMONG FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE CRISIS

Tsengwa also said load shedding and vandalism were among factors contributing to the problem. 

“Load shedding is seriously hampering our pumping capabilities. Stage 6 load shedding meant that Knysna was without electricity for 12 hours per day. 

The Garden Route District Municipality provided us with three generators, but we have had to return two already. 

For our intended use, we require smaller generators with a low amperage, but these are extremely difficult to source,” he said. 

Adding that vandalism and theft of infrastructure did not only hamper the municipality’s water storage but disrupted the supply. 

“Fixing vandalism and replacing stolen parts divert funding from other projects, or is delayed as there often is no funding for such unplanned costs,” he said. 

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KNYSNA MUNICIPALITY TO HIRE SPECIALIST TO DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM

Tsengwa said another factor was the shortage of specialist staff, adding that the municipality was in the process of hiring new qualified staff.

“The factor that has a determining effect on all of the above and any mitigating plans that we are considering, is a lack of funding. 

We have applied for a Municipal Infrastructure Grant of approximately R3 million for the procurement of generators.

We are working hard to fix them under our current financial and operational constraints and are investigating concrete implementations to prevent similar crises from occurring in the future,” Tsengwa said. 

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Knysna United chairperson Ralph Stander said residents have demanded that the municipality addresses issues of corruption and inadequate service delivery.

“The municipality must stop giving big contracts to companies from outside Knysna.  We want people who are involved with corruption and for the municipality to chase away incompetent and lazy workers,” Stander said.