Mayor Plato calls on community to help safeguard City infrastructure

18 May 2021

Executive Mayor Dan Plato yesterday visited the community of RR-section in Site B Khayelitsha to engage residents on the sustained attacks on the City infrastructure and calling on them to support City efforts to protect vital services from vandalism. On Sunday morning, the City contractor's staff were once again attacked and robbed of their belongings while providing overpumping services at the vandalised Site B pump station in Khayelitsha. Due to this incident, the mobile pump on site was removed as a precautionary safety measure to ensure the interim equipment is not vandalised. It has since returned to service to ensure sewage is pumped through the network.

Given the severity of the vandalism at Site B, the City will need to reconstruct this pump station. The cost of the repairs for this facility is still being calculated, however, an estimate is that it will cost R6 million. It is disappointing that resources intended for other budgeted projects had to be reallocated to address these senseless acts of vandalism.

The sewage pump station in Site B, which services about 8 000 households in Site C and a part of Site B in Khayelitsha, was vandalised and is unfortunately not able to function resulting in major overflows and blockages in the network. However, as a contingency measure, mobile pumps have been provided to assist, with minimising the overflows, but these are an extra cost.
 
The Site B pump station was vandalised in February and the City’s Supply Chain Management procedures have been expedited to facilitate the repair of this facility. The damage was extensive: all operating equipment was stolen, the standby power supply generator badly damaged, and parts were stolen. The building was also damaged, as well as the fence, which needs to be replaced. The Eskom power supply cable was also stolen.
 
For the Site B pump station, we are assessing the feasibility of installing CCTV cameras and electric fencing once the facility is fixed. Our best estimate is that will take two months to fix through an expedited supply chain process.

We need the community's help to protect the infrastructure and report those who are vandalising it. We cannot allow the destructive acts of others to impact service delivery for the thousands of residents in Khayelitsha.

The City will assist residents who expressed an interest in setting up a neighbourhood watch group in the area, to assist with crime prevention efforts.

Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to contact the local SAPS so they can investigate this matter.

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Published by:
City of Cape Town, Media Office