Frustrated by ongoing concerns, Phoenix residents protested at the Phoenix Sizakala Centre, raising concerns about poor service delivery in Phoenix. The protest took place on Saturday, 26 September.
eThekwini Ratepayers Political Movement (ERPM) Ward 52 candidate and resident Usha Devi Gengan said the protest called on the eThekwini Municipality to properly address water and electricity billing.
“Residents are concerned about the high tariff increases that came into effect in July 2026, causing higher billings with Water and Electricity, Sanitation and DSW (Cleansing and Solid Waste). Residents are unable to understand the charges on their utility bills and how water consumption affects the price of water due to leaking pipes, dripping taps and leaking meters. Some residents came to us straight out of the Phoenix Sizakala Centre and were helped with the above including billing issues.”
Gengan said the situation in Phoenix is minimal and, in some cases, non-existent. She called on the municipality to introduce a ward-based or area-based maintenance model.
She said: “Contractors must be localised and measured against response time, quality of work, first-time fix rate, turnaround time, repeat job cards and accountability.
Municipal service delivery cannot continue operating through a system where workers and contractors travel unnecessarily long distances to attend to faults while residents wait for basic services to be restored. Repeated job cards for the same fault must trigger an investigation into the original repair and the contractor’s performance.
We cannot continue with a system that measures success by how many job cards are ‘closed’, rather than whether the resident’s problem has actually been fixed.
“We call on residents and ratepayers across eThekwini to stand together and demand a municipal maintenance system that is faster, more accountable, cost-conscious and focused on quality workmanship,” she said.
The eThekwini Municipality was contacted for comment on the protest but was unable to comment at the time of publication.
