Mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda rounds up festive season highlights

DURBAN and surrounding areas were abuzz with visitors and residents alike during the festive season. The Mayor, Councillor Mxolisi Kaunda, in a media statement, acknowledged and thanked visitors who made Durban their home during this festive season. He went on to thank residents and tourism product owners for the warm reception they provided to holiday makers. As a result of heightened police visibility on the roads and in our communities, few incidents of crime and road crashes were reported during this festive season. The municipality's systematic preparation and planning for the festive season, yielded positive results for safety and security especially at the beach as only 47 children were reported separated from their minders and were quickly reunited with their families within 24 hours. The planning for the festive season included an integrated approach to law enforcement between the Province, SAPS and the municipality. It was able to achieve the following results from 15 December 2022 to 11 January 2023:

• 15617 traffic fines issued;
• 1503 vehicles stopped and searched;
• 70 Compliance inspections to businesses. 

''As eThekwini municipality, we are encouraged that despite the challenges we experienced with some of our beaches, thousands of visitors still descended on Durban. This holiday season provided us with an opportunity to showcase other hidden gems in Durban and surrounding areas. The success we have achieved during this festive season has laid a solid foundation for us to prepare for the Easter holidays'', said the Mayor. 

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Interruption of water supply 

THE Municipality is faced with a challenge of water supply in most areas partly due to infrastructure damaged during the floods and load shedding. The municipality acknowledges and apologises to communities in the affected areas and assures residents that it is working tirelessly to address the challenges. The water supply challenges are mostly in the areas that are supplied by the Phoenix, Verulam and Ntuzuma reservoirs. The interruption was due to inadequate supply of Water from Durban Heights Water Treatment Works to these areas. 

''We are confident that the commissioning of Reservoir 3 of this treatment plant will eradicate the challenge of water supply in Ntuzuma, Verulam and Phoenix'', said the Mayor. 

Other areas that have been experiencing water supply challenges include Umlazi and Folweni. These challenges were caused by several pipe bursts from the trunk main supplying water to these areas from Chatsworth. The municipality is working with Umgeni Water, to finalise plans to replace this bulk pipe at an estimated cost of R900 million. 

''We call upon residents to work with us to address other challenges which lead to the disruption of basic services such as theft and vandalism of our infrastructure'', said the Mayor.