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NMBM calls on residents to protect water leaks plumbers working in their communities

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Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Mayoral Committee Member for Infrastructure and Engineering, Councillor Masixole Zinto has called on communities to work with the Municipality to protect water leaks and sanitation contractors and municipal plumbers.

This call was made following a meeting MMC Zinto had with seven contractors who are hired to augment the fixing of water leaks programme.

The meeting was called by MMC Zinto to try and find ways on how to accelerate the pace of fixing water leaks.

During the meeting the contractors identified robberies of their plumbers working in different areas, more especially in the townships as the main reason of the delays.

“Our plumbers have been robbed more than five times in different areas. This puts a lot of strain because after the robberies our staff will have to take a day off and go for counselling. This is also a risk to their lives,” said one of the company owners who refused to be named fearing the security of his workers.

He said crime was becoming a serious impediment to the pace of their delivery.

MMC Zinto said: “The City is faced with a serious water crisis, with combined dam levels currently sitting at 20 percent. We need a united effort to save every drop. I understand that some of these criminals are part of our communities. Let’s work with law enforcement to root them out”.

Five months ago the City was sitting at about 16000 water leaks. Currently active water leaks are below 3000.

“Our aim is to drastically decrease our water losses, build a culture of water conservation and intensify the enforcement of restrictions. I am happy that in the meeting we came up with solutions, but the critical part of these solutions is the partnership with our people,” said MMC Zinto.

MMC Zinto said the second phase of his engagements will be with communities through organised structures that already exist.

“I will also be holding sessions with communities to discuss more on how we can build sustainable partnerships,” said MMC Zinto.

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NMB Communications

Media Communications at Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality
The Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality Communications Department is responsible for communicating pertinent Municipal news from Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage and Despatch. Municipality Contact Details. See more articles by NMB Communication's.