Water tanker deliveries in eThekwini Municipality were abruptly halted on Thursday due to a diesel shortage at the Ottawa Depot, located north of Durban. The interruption comes after a series of ongoing challenges in providing water to residents, with the municipality already struggling to supply water to taps due to failing infrastructure. Over the past three months, water trucks have become a vital part of the solution to deliver water to different areas across the city.
Ednick Msweli, the head of Water and Sanitation (EWS), revealed that the department’s maintenance budget has run out, leaving the EWS with only R256 million, well short of the R670 million required to address the municipality’s growing water needs. As municipal council members requested tankers to deliver water to northern parts of eThekwini on Thursday, they were informed that the depot had run out of diesel, raising further concerns about the ongoing crisis.
Gugu Sisilana, spokesperson for eThekwini Municipality, explained that municipal fuel wagons were in the process of re-fueling the water tankers at the depot and assured that deliveries would resume as soon as the fueling issue was resolved. She mentioned that there are 59 water tankers at the Ottawa Depot, but not all were impacted by the delay in diesel delivery.
Bradley Singh, a DA councillor from Ward 35, voiced his concerns over the intermittent supply of water to areas like uMhlanga and the surrounding neighborhoods. He claimed that the depot had been without diesel for at least three days and criticized the time wasted while tankers were refueling at the EWS depot in Springfield. Singh also questioned the competence of the municipality, suggesting that running out of diesel was a simple matter that should not have occurred. He raised the possibility of sabotage and pointed out that areas like Amaoti had been without water for weeks, relying entirely on water tankers to survive. Singh emphasized that urgent intervention was needed to resolve the crisis and prevent further mismanagement.
In September 2024, the city had announced the purchase of 100 new tankers to increase its fleet to 260. However, during a recent Executive Committee (EXCO) meeting, Chief Financial Officer Sandile Mnguni noted that the EWS had been focusing too much on maintaining old infrastructure instead of investing in rebuilding the city’s outdated water pipelines. Mnguni also pointed out that the department was spending vast sums on water tankers, with reports suggesting the EWS sometimes spends R50 million per month on their hire. Mnguni argued that the money spent on hiring tankers could be better used to improve the city’s infrastructure, preventing water losses in the future.
Councillor Yogis Govender, a DA Exco member, echoed Mnguni’s concerns and criticized the EWS for its failure to plan ahead to address the ongoing water crisis. She remarked that the situation reflected a broader failure of governance, with a “don’t care attitude” among those running the city for decades. Govender also revealed that nearly 100 contracted tankers had been dehired in January, which she believed was another sign of mismanagement.
The increasing reliance on hired tankers, along with the recent diesel shortage, has raised safety concerns for municipal workers. Since 2022, nearly eight employees from the EWS have been tragically killed, with two notable assassinations at municipal sites—Amos Ngcobo shot dead in his Springfield office and Phumzile Qatha murdered at the Ottawa depot. These incidents have heightened fears for the safety of staff, who are already working under the pressure of delivering vital water services to the community.
As eThekwini Municipality continues to grapple with its water crisis, the unresolved issues surrounding diesel shortages, tanker procurement, and infrastructure maintenance point to deeper systemic failures. The mounting concerns from municipal leaders, workers, and residents underscore the need for swift and effective solutions to secure the city’s water future.
