Metro needs six years to dump buckets

Mangaung residents want the municipality to speed up the eradication of the bucket system which is still in use in some areas and improve water supplies to all parts of the city.

The residents raised the issues during a municipal public accounts committee meeting held yesterday at the Leslie Monnanyane Hall in Rocklands.
City manager Sibongile Mazibuko chaired the meeting.

The residents expressed concern that the city had not moved with adequate speed in eradicating the buckets whose continued use they said was a daily humiliation to the affected residents.
Mazibuko said the city was trying its level best to speed up the process but it was all being hindered by a shortage of funds.

“We have so far eradicated 12 000 buckets within the metro and are left with 56 000,” Mazibuko told the gathering.

“We will need R3-billion to eradicate the remaining buckets. This will take us six years to accomplish,” she said.

Mazibuko blamed the lack of funds for slow delivery of services especially water shortages that in recent weeks saw water cuts in parts of Bloemfontein and Botshabelo.

The city boss said the issue of water remains one of the key priorities for the municipality and that new infrastructure was being built while the old one was being replaced.

“We are in the process of building new sewer plants and water reservoirs to solve the problem. This is one process that still needs money,” she said.

“From a distance it looks as though the municipality is doing nothing to resolve the water problem but we are actually erecting an entire water infrastructure from scratch in some parts.”
Mazibuko also said water losses caused by burst pipes due to ageing infrastructure had cost the municipality R51-million in the current financial year which started in July 2014 and ends June this year.
She said the water losses were significantly higher in 2011/2012 at 44 percent, 2013/2014 at 35 percent and 31 percent in the current year.

“Although the figures are high, they are actually lower than in previous years,” she said.
The municipal manager also blamed dishonest contractors for installing substandard equipment that continuously breaks down leading to water leakages.

“We have cases where contractors have been called to account for their shoddy workmanship and cases have been opened with the police in that regard,” she told the meeting.

The residents at the public dialogue also told Mazibuko that they were not happy at the fact that the municipality had not filled some key positions and claimed this had resulted in poor service delivery.
She however told the residents that the municipality was sticking to national treasury regulations and their budget could not support more recruitment.

The residents also told Mazibuko that they continued to receive incorrect statements despite assurances by the municipality that the errors had been resolved.
She acknowledged that there were still problems with the statements but reaffirmed that the municipality was working hard to fix the matter.

“We have stopped using consultants to compile our financial statements. We have reduced the number of misstatements. In the past, much of the information submitted was historical information but we are now using much more recent data,” said Mazibuko.
She also mentioned that the hiring of five chartered accountants had helped improve audit outcomes especially for the municipality.

“In 2011, we had no chartered accountants within the metro and we have since employed five,” said Mazibuko.
On the issue of qualifications, the city manager assured residents that the municipality had hired people with the required qualifications.

“I can confirm that all of our staff complement has the required qualifications. We have evaluated their competency and skills, checked their background for qualifications and they do have them,” she said.