Statement by Brett Herron, GOOD Secretary-General and Member of the Western Cape Provincial Parliament
12 July 2021
As another significant winter storm lashes Cape Town, residents have to navigate unprecedented water hazards due to the municipality allowing its contract for labour-intensive stormwater drain clearing to lapse.
The City made its normal noises in March when it announced its Annual Winter Readiness Programme focuses on the clearing of the stormwater systems, particularly in flood-prone areas. The annual programme usually includes the cleaning of gullies, catch pits, pipes and ponds, besides clearing stormwater drains.
If the system is not cleared, it leads to blockages and localised flooding after heavy rains.
But what the City didn’t say in March was that its labour-intensive stormwater clearing contract lapsed last year and has not been renewed.
After two cold fronts lashed the City last week, a report emerged at various sub-councils indicating that the Winter Readiness Programme could not be implemented due to “implementation constraints”.
According to the report, the “program has been implemented on an ad-hoc basis by internal depot teams. The norm is that the program is implemented by contracted services via our Labour Intensive Tender, which unfortunately expired in June 2020”.
The report goes on to indicate that with no tender available the department of Roads Infrastructure and Management has to rely on mechanical cleaning using JET VAC machines which are also used for pipe cleaning. But there are few JET VAC machines, and they are not available in all communities.
As usual with the DA-led City government, the suburbs with good and established infrastructure are serviced, while poorer communities in low lying areas once again endure the brunt of the city’s incompetence and warped priorities.
Of Delft, a low lying area prone to flooding, the report says: “Delft does not have a machine available as the term tender was not awarded in the specific area due to non-compliance of contractor after due diligence”.
The report further indicates that the pond clearing program “has not been implemented in general, this is due to lack of available Labour Intensive Tender”.
On Saturday, in Nyanga, I spoke to a resident who was clearing manholes and catch pits using garden implements. He told me he walked around the area doing so because no one else was doing this.
It is evident that the City announced a programme it had no intention or capacity to implement, leaving residents to fend for themselves. Besides the lack of integrity, allowing a long-standing, necessary and usually well-planned programme to lapse is a gross failure of governance.