DA pickets outside ICC as eThekwini water crisis takes centre stage
The Democratic Alliance turned up the pressure on eThekwini Municipality on Tuesday, with councillors picketing outside the Durban ICC and calling for Water and Sanitation head Ednick Msweli to step down.
The councillors were stationed at the ICC parking lot entrance as the municipality held its final council meeting, protesting over ongoing water supply problems and persistent water losses.
The picket coincided with a DA press briefing inside the ICC, where mayoral candidate Haniff Hoosen, Durban Caucus leader Thabani Mthethwa and Cllr Andre Beetge presented the party’s assessment of eThekwini’s performance over the past five years.
Beetge said the overall assessment placed the municipality below five out of 10, with key service delivery portfolios scoring even lower.
THE DA SCORECARD
Overall performance: BELOW 5/10
Finance: 5/10
Governance and Human Resources: 4/10
Trading Services: 4/10
Beetge said the figures showed that while work had been done, it had not resulted in a sustained turnaround.
“More than 500 kilometres of roads were reportedly rehabilitated and thousands of housing units and title deeds were delivered. But these gains must be measured against the city’s broader condition,” said Beetge.
He highlighted persistent water losses of more than 50%, which he said peaked at 65% in 2026.
“This evidence points to pockets of improvement rather than a sustained turnaround,” he said.
The trading services portfolio, covering water, sanitation, electricity and waste, received four out of 10.
Beetge said non-revenue water remained a major concern, while ageing infrastructure, sewer spills, pump station failures, electricity infrastructure theft and maintenance backlogs continued to affect service delivery.
The finance portfolio scored five out of 10, with concerns around debt collection, liquidity, capital expenditure and the municipality’s ability to convert its budget into functioning infrastructure.
Beetge acknowledged that eThekwini’s 2024/25 audit was unqualified with no material findings and that audit findings had declined.
“That improvement must be acknowledged. It does not remove the broader financial sustainability concerns,” he said.
Governance and Human Resources also scored four out of 10, with concerns raised around vacancies, institutional capacity, recruitment, performance management and consequence management.
For the DA, the water crisis remains the most immediate concern. The party says the combination of high water losses and ongoing service delivery problems warrants leadership accountability in the Water and Sanitation department.
The protest outside the ICC was therefore aimed at putting that demand directly before councillors as they gathered for the final council meeting.
