Makana on its knees as water and sewage services all but collapse amid broken equipment crisis

Since September 2024, a vacuum tanker servicing the town of Riebeeck East has been unusable because it needs new tyres and brake pads. If the invoices for spares had been paid, it would take two days to get the truck back on the road. 

More than two months later the truck, known as a honeysucker, which sucks up waste materials, still hasn’t been fixed. Riebeeck East’s sewerage system is overflowing, and people’s toilets are full. 

In communication seen by Daily Maverick, the municipality was warned on 18 November that a critical sewer situation was developing in Riebeeck East because the truck was not in service and a stormwater drain had become blocked.

There are only two vacuum tankers available for the Makana Local Municipality, meaning that half the fleet is out of commission. The other truck works full-time in Alicedale to prevent a similar collapse.

Makana Local Municipality spokesperson Anele Mjekula said it might still take another two weeks to get the truck back on the road.

And in the event of more water outages, water trucks to provide drinking water to residents are also in short supply. 

Mjekula said they had two water trucks but one needed an engine overhaul. This truck has not been operational for 18 months. The municipality is also serviced by three trucks from Amatola Water (the water utility service in the province). These, however, are also not operational and need tyres and hydraulic pipes.

The Roads and Stormwater Department’s truck is also out of commission as it needs new tyres, rims and flaps and two new batteries. It also needs a road test as the licence has expired. This was reported on 16 October but it is still not fixed.

Several sources have confirmed that a senior engineer, Reynhardt Britnell, who was appointed as Makana’s acting head of the Department of Infrastructure and Engineering, was “warned” not to present a status quo report highlighting these issues in a meeting attended by national and provincial representatives on Monday. Britnell has temporarily left Makhanda as a precautionary measure.

Water for some

In August, DA councillor Geoffrey Embling again renewed his request for an investigation into allegations that the municipality’s chief financial officer Nomfundo Ntsangani used an Amatola Water tanker to fill her swimming pool in December 2023. There were several eyewitnesses to the event. 

“Residents are still complaining about it,” he said, in a letter to the municipal manager, Pumelelo Kate. 

“This occurred at the height of water outages when Somerset Heights [a suburb in Makhanda] had been without water for a week and the Amatola Water truck was meant to be delivering water to residents. Furthermore, the driver of the Amatola truck allegedly parked over the sewer line on the verge of Dulverton Road and damaged the pipe in the process. 

“Residents witnessed the event, took photos and are prepared to give statements,” he said.

The municipality refused to comment on the issue, and Ntsangani ignored multiple requests for comment on this issue. 

The offices of the Infrastructure and Engineering Department at the municipality, the very office tasked with looking after water and sanitation in the municipality, have been declared unsafe and condemned by the Department of Labour. The Traffic Department was closed for the same reason.

Crisis to crisis

In 2020, the Makana Local Municipality made history when the High Court declared that owing to its persistent, unconstitutional failure to provide services, the council should be dissolved. The case was, however, taken to the Supreme Court of Appeal and settled on the basis that a judge would oversee a recovery plan.

Since then the municipality has been hit by one self-made crisis after the other.

Last year, it was ordered to pay back R60.7-million in unspent infrastructure grants; this was later reduced by half. 

Read more: Reprieve for Makana municipality after Eastern Cape treasury claws back half of unspent grants

This financial year, according to minutes from the latest infrastructure committee meeting, the Makana municipality had spent only R156,000 by the end of the first quarter. Its budget is R6.7-million.

The meeting also discussed the release of R9.3-million from the new infrastructure grant provided by the Treasury. It is understood that where a municipality has been found to be non-compliant with Department of Water and Sanitation standards, as Makana does, it can apply for 10% of the infrastructure grant to be ringfenced for spending on water and sanitation infrastructure.

In September 2024, the town was hit by such an extended water outage that Rhodes University had to suspend its lectures. 

Read more: Rhodes University suspends lectures as Makhanda despairs over prolonged water outage caused by sabotage

The South African Human Rights Commission is investigating service delivery failures in the municipality, and after an inital hearing in October, commissioners are due back in Makhanda on 17 December.

SIU probe

The Special Investigating Unit (SIU), which had received a proclamation to carry out a wide-ranging investigation into the municipality, raided the municipality’s offices in Makhanda in September.

Rhodes University, along with a number of private schools and civil society groups, issued a joint statement welcoming the investigation.

“This investigation is crucial to promoting transparency, accountability, and good governance in our community. We encourage all organisations and members of the public to cooperate fully with the SIU as may be required.

“Our interest is in revitalising our municipality and removing any obstacles to positive development. We believe fairness, integrity and accountability are essential for advancement, and this investigation is a chance to address past irregularities and rebuild public trust in our institutions.

“We will continue to contribute to improving Makhanda and making it liveable, sustainable and attractive through social collaboration and activism,” read the statement.

Read more: SIU launches comprehensive investigation into Makana municipality’s five-year service delivery crisis

The SIU investigation follows a damning report from the Auditor-General for the 2022/2023 financial year. The Auditor-General said she couldn’t express an opinion on the municipality’s financial statements and gave it a disclaimer.

One of the findings by the Auditor-General was that for purposes of monitoring service delivery, auditors could not find evidence that 60% of targets to remove asbestos pipes had been met; the municipality declared that it met only 9% of a 100% target to refurbish the Belmont Valley Waste Water Treatment Works, but auditors said this was actually 27%.

The municipality said it achieved 75% for the refurbishment of the Waainek Waste Water Treatment Works, but auditors could find no evidence of this. DM